140 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



shipped to other cities at the north and west. For ship- 

 ment, they are packed in barrels in the shells, or opened 

 and packed in tubs with ice, and forwarded by rail to 

 Boston, Providence, Portland, Chicago, Omaha, San Fran- 

 cisco, and other cities. Very few oysters are canned in New 

 York. That trade seems to be principally monopolized by 

 Baltimore. Besides the oyster shipping interests, there is 

 the important retail trade in the city. The well-fitted and 

 at times luxurious offices on the lay-boats are the meeting- 

 rooms of the proprietors of the hotels, restaurants, retail 

 oyster saloons, and cheap oyster stands. At certain hours 

 in the day, representatives of each of these branches of the 

 trade may meet in the office, and the rapidity with which 

 a cargo of oysters — extras, box, cuUens — is disposed of 

 astonishes a novice. One man requires only the largest 

 oysters in the lot. Another wants to know if the dealer 

 hasn't got a lot of small oysters for cheap stews. A third 

 requires tip-top box oysters, and another asks when the 

 next cargo of York Rivers or Rockaways is expected. 



Most of the dealers own the beds from which they 

 receive the oysters, but are compelled to have partners to 

 superintend the catching and loading, because most of the 

 beds — in fact, all except those bordering on Long Island — 

 are out of the State. The laws of the other States — Con- 

 necticut, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia — do not 

 permit non-residents to own beds or catch oysters within 

 their domains. So the New York dealers, at least some 

 of them, form co-partnerships with residents near the 

 fishing grounds, supply them with money, let them buy 

 beds and plant the oysters, take them in as part owners 

 of the vessel in the carrying trade, and then divide the 

 profits. 



The New York trade is controlled in a great measure 



