264 OYSTERS IN AMEEIC^ 



to great distances. In the oyster-fisheries of Maryland as many 

 as six hundred vessels of about twenty-three tons each are 

 engaged, in addition to two thousand small boats or canoes. 

 These employ about seven thousand men, and if we add those 

 engaged in the carrjong trade, it would give the number of 

 persons employed in the oyster trade of the State of Maryland 

 as at least ten thousand, all obtaining remunerative employ- 

 ment. 



