16 FOURTH REPORT OF SHELL FISH COMMISSIONERS 
In addition to the above, there are four others in process of con- 
struction: 
Roland & Tuthill are building at the yard of Richards & Weed, at 
South Norwalk, a seventy feet steamer, with a capacity of 1,500 
bushels. . | 
The Hoyt Brothers, under the direction of Capt. Charles W. Hoyt, 
are building at Fair Haven a steamer fifty feet in length and sixteen 
feet beam, with a carrying capacity of 1,200 bushels, to be ready for 
business April rst. 
Capt. Charles Loundes has plans to build this winter a steamer at 
Five-Mile River, with a capacity of 1,500 bushels. 
Ludington & Palmer will also build during the winter a steamer of 
similar capacity. 
Thus, by the opening of business in the spring of 1885, there will 
be forty-four or forty-five oyster steamers employed on the Sound. 
Of this large fleet of steamers, the Early Bird, owned by Cook & 
Hilton of Norwalk, was the first used in the oyster business of the 
State. She was very small, but she has the distinguished credit of 
being the pioneer in the application of steam to the development of 
this great industry. This was not quite ten years ago; and it is evi- 
dent that steamers must ultimately supersede sail vessels, as in most 
other occupations on the water. 
Another proof of the growth of the business is the great increase 
of shipments of seed and grown stock to neighboring States. The 
quantity of seed shipped is increasing annually, although the price 
per bushel is considerably Jess than formerly. Still, this is probably 
the largest and most profitable branch of the oyster industry of this 
State to-day. The distributing of oysters in the shell and in kegs and 
cans to all parts of the United States is carried on all the year round. 
With increased freighting facilities and improved preserving appliances, 
the trade is constantly growing. Probably no stock is produced on 
the Atlantic coast that reaches the consumer in better condition, after 
a long journey, than that shipped from Connecticut at any season of 
the year, even in the hottest summer months. 
There is also an increase in the foreign trade, both for seed and 
full grown stock of medium size. The Hoyt Brothers, one of the 
largest oyster firms of the State, beginning late in the fall, ship from 
two hundred to three hundred barrels a week for immediate con- 
sumption. They pack 950 four-year-olds, or 1,500 three-year-olds, 
in a barrel. The freight to England averages about seventy-five cents 
a barrel. The American oyster is considered the best, although the 
