CXII 



OYSTER WORK IN MARYLAND 1879—80. 



Kind of Boat 

 Employed. 



N U M 

 BER. 



I Value of No. 

 ! Boat I Men 

 I AND I Em- 

 Equipment, j ployed. 



Wages of 

 Same. 



No. 



People 

 Suppor- 

 ted BY 

 Oyster 

 Catch'g. 



Dredgers 



700 $1,050,000 



5,600 



$ 916,300 





outfit of same 





70,000 





1 





Scrapers 



550; 



440,000 



2,200 



297, ooo: 





Canoes 



1,825 



182,500 



5,148 



1,158,300 





Runners 



2oo; 



1 



300,000 



800 



166,400: 



1 







3,275.12,042,500 



13,748 



$2,538,000: 



54,992 



Number of Oysters Taken" 1879 — 80. Bushels. 



No. packed in State — of Md. oysters 6,653,492 



" shipped ont of State 2,021,840 



Local consumption in Baltimore 818, 680 



'' ^' other cities of the State... 200,000 



u 



(i. 



counties 875,000 



10,569,012 



It will be seen that in the year 1879 to 1880, there. were 

 13,748 of our citizens emplo3^ed in catching and bringing 

 to market the ten and a half million of bushels produced ; 

 and when we take this into consideration and the amount 

 of capital consumed in preserving and exporting the 

 oyster, the importance of providing for a continued sup- 

 ply is most evident. 



The Chesapealie Bay, situated, as it is, between the 

 colder waters of the north and the warmer southern zone, 

 is unexceptionally suited for the cultivation of the oyster, 

 its reproduction, growth and fattening, as it is not ex- 

 posed to those vicissitudes of temperature which so 

 frequently prove fatal ; and the limited average in the 

 rise and fall of the tide renders the existence of the oyster 

 in shoal waters less precarious and their protection far 

 less expensive than it has proved on the coast of France, 

 where the oyster-growing industry has added new life 



