OYSTER RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 555 
Quantity of oysters put upon the market.—Statements on this subject 
were conflicting. Certain oyster-dealers said that there were from 350 
to 400 boxes of oysters (containing 200 full-grown oysters to each box) 
put upon the San Francisco market daily; while from the statements 
of certain outsiders, it appeared that the quantity was much greater. 
Neither did I learn what proportion to this amount the shipments to 
outside towns bear. From certain sources I heard that there were about 
100 carloads of seed brought west annually, while others discredited _ 
this statement and plaved the amount at half that number, — 
The consumption of eastern oysters on the Pacific coast has greatly ~ 
increased of late years, while the rate of importation of seed oysters has 
not; in fact, after considerable inquiry, the conclusion is that it has 
— 
decreased; so we may infer that the beds, although not self-sustaining, —_—— 
are nevertheless contributing something in the way of natural increase 
_to-meet the demand. Be i eat So i ay 
The market for oysters. in San Franci ISCO 1S sani and all that a are @ pro- 
duced sell readily. They are ordinarily packed in boxes containing 
200, worth $4 per box. It will be seen that they cost twice as much as 
on the Atlantic coast, where choice oysters are worth $1 per 100, and 
good oysters, not epceiailly selected, can usually be bought for 75 cents 
per bushel. Californians will cine ast Gedy constune more oysters when 
they can get them at eastern Prices. ~eeceeeceemnmmcmm 
Oysters are always in season in California, the sales and prices being 
the same in summer as in winter. 
The Pacific coast native oyster (Ostrea lurida).—This small oyster 
abounds in San Francisco Bay, where it is utterly worthless as com- 
pared with the oyster from Washington, It is present upon all the 
\bedding-grounds of the eastern species. When the latter are permitted 
to lie too long undisturbed they | peeiue coated with the small shells of 
~O. lurida. There are extensive deposits of this species in the shallow 
waters all along the western part of the bay, and their dead shells 
washed ashore by the high seas that accompany the strong winds of 
the winter.season have formed a white glistening beach that extends 
from San Mateo for a dozen or more miles southward. So abundant 
are they that this constantly increasing deposit of shells covers every- 
thing alongshore and forms bars extending into the bay. ———-"—"~ 
Schooners frequently carry away loads of them for the making of 
garden walks and for other purposes to which old oyster shells are 
adapted. Quantities are ground up and scattered about poultry ranches. 
The supply is unfailing. Their small size and thin, light shells permit 
them to be readily drifted about the bay, and thus render them unsuit- 
able as collectors of the spat of eastern oysters. They break apart and 
disintegrate, and shift so freely when exposed to heavy waves that 
they can not be considered good fixing-surfaces for the large species 
when in exposed places. If the banks formed of these little shell 
