A. CuEesAPpEAKEe Inpustry. 341 
SALMON, FRESH AND SALTED. 
One Boston house sells annually 10,000 bbls. salmon, the fresh 
and salted fish averaging per Dbl. B38. ............cseececee eee ees $380,000 00 
100,000 bbls. herrings, cured and smoked in the manner of Yar- 
mouth bloaters; B10 Per bbls «5 vcwscaswvareswsasoadawassseuctiass 1,000,000 00 
THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 
Of the delicious bivalve which ‘‘ gets out of bed to be tucked in,” it is impos- 
sible to arrive at an appropriate estimate of all which are canned for the 
interior trade, and those sold in the shell for consumption in the Atlantic 
States; but of the trade from Virginia to Massachusetts, it is computed 
by the largest dealers in the industry that about 50,000,000 bushels are an- 
nually sold at 50 cents per bushel 5,000,000 00 
The following, copied from the Baltimore report of the in- 
dustry in that single city for the past year, may give some 
idea of the importance of this crustaceous bivalve: 
OYSTERS AND CANNED Goops. 
This trade has been 1m fair activity throughout the year. The number of 
houses prosecuting it now reaches about seventy-three, of which some forty 
are strictly in the packing trade. The hands employed equal probably 5000 
of both sexes in the various departments of shucking, packing, peeling, pre- 
serving, etc. Six to eight million bushels of oysters are consumed, one third 
of which are packed raw, and the balance hermetically sealed. The cans re- 
quired for these reach about 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 of half to one gallon 
each, and require say 300,000 cases to pack them. The balance of the oys- 
ters, say some 4,000,000 bushels, are put up in hermetically sealed cans of 1, 
2, and 3 pounds each, of which during the active season some 80 to 100,000 
cans are daily packed, so that some 12 to 16,000,000 of cans are required for 
this trade annually. It is estimated that some $14,000,000 to $16,000,000 
are invested in this interest in and around Baltimore, and that the amiual 
product is worth some $6,000,000 to $7,000,000. 
The number of vessels said to be engaged in that business 
on the Chesapeake is over 1600, which give employment to 
more than 6000 persons. Had the trade to California contin- 
ued, the industry would have been greatly augmented; but 
in that land of abundance fishes of nearly ali kinds are more 
numerous than on the Atlantic coast, so that there salmon is 
too common for food, and the sardine canning industry bids 
fair to supersede that of the Mediterranean. 
