Oysters and other Edible Mollusca. 139 



The basin of Arcachon and the other maritime rivers 

 of that coast are those where the artificial culture of oysters 

 has been most attended to. In the season ending April, 

 1877, 202,392,22s oysters, valued at 4,500,000 francs, were 

 delivered to commerce from Arcachon. The D'Auray 

 quarter collected and delivered 101,736,000 oysters, valued 

 at 500,000 francs, during the same period. 



The American Oyster Fishery. — The trade in oysters in 

 the United States is very large. The Baltimore oyster 

 beds in the Chesapeake river and its tributaries cover 

 3000 acres, and produce an annual crop of about 25,000,000 

 bushels. 



The oyster trade of New York is one using large 

 amounts of capital, employing nearly 150 sailing vessels, 

 with crews averaging in the aggregate 700 seamen, and 

 handling millions of bushels of oysters per annum. There 

 are moored at the wharfs in New York city nearly 60 

 barges, or " lay-boats " as they are called, costing from £600 

 to ;^iooo each, substantially built, having compartments 

 capable of containing thousands of bushels of oysters in the 

 shell. 



The oyster season commences about the ist of October 

 (when the boats owned by the dealers are sent to the beds 

 for cargoes), and lasts until the middle of March or ist 

 of April. The oyster fleet is composed principally of 

 schooners, ranging from 35 tons to 250 tons, and receives 

 the proceeds of the dredgings of the beds at York River, 

 Prince's Bay, Keyport, City Island, Cow Bay, Rockaway, 

 Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Blue Point, Norwalk, Stamford, 

 and Greenwich. When the oysters are received, they are 

 discharged directly on the wharf to dealers ; and after 

 these are supplied, the balance is stored in the compart- 

 ments of the lay-boats. From the lay^bpats the oysters are 



