THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 
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during the last five seasons has averaged 2,950,000 bushels, valued at $1,450,000, an 
average of 24,386 bushels and $11,990 to the square mile. About 200 of the dredging 
vessels work also under the scraping law in the “ county waters” of Somerset, Dor- 
chester, and Talbot counties, and catch therein annually about 500,000 bushels in addi- 
tion to the foregoing. 
The oysters obtained by the dredging vessels are generally larger and command 
better prices than those obtained from the tonging or scraping areas. But the condi- 
tion of the dredging-ground during the last four years has not been as satisfactory as 
that of the tonging and scraping grounds. The implements and vessels are more 
effective, and the quantity of oysters left on the reefs has been growing smaller each 
year. On a number of the once prominent reefs profitable oystering has not been 
found for several years. This is true of the Western Shore from the “Steps” down 
to Cove Point, and to some extent of the “Lumps” and the Kent shore. 
The boundaries of the dredging areas as defined by law must necessarily consist 
of imaginary lines, for the great extent of the water area of Maryland has up to the 
present time rendered a resort to buoying or similar indications too expensive for 
adoption. This fact, together with the frequent necessity for the dredging vessels to 
enter the small tributaries for harbor protection and other purposes, makes it prac- 
ticable for the vessels, particularly upon dark nights or foggy days, to take oysters 
from areas outside of their authorized limits. It is quite difficult to convict offenders 
and even then suitable punishment is not always certain. The number of the dredging 
captains, however, who make a practice of oystering outside of their prescribed limits 
is small; but as long as the inducements to dredge on forbidden grounds is greater 
than the punishment therefor, some of the dredgers can not be prohibited from catch- 
ing oysters from such reefs as yield them the greatest returns. 
Dredging vessels and boats . — Distinct and peculiar classes of vessels and boats, 
long celebrated for their speed and beauty, have been evolved in the Chesapeake 
Bay for use in dredging. These range in size from the smallest craft barely able to 
carry two men with the small quantity of oysters they may catch in one day to large 
schooners 75 feet in length and measuring 70 tons, with a carrying capacity of 3,000 
bushels. The value ranges from $80 to $7,000 each, and averages about $900, the 
tonnage averaging 20.76 in 1892-93. The largest vessel that has engaged in dredging 
during the last two or three seasons is the A. H. Shultz , of Baltimore, the length of which 
is 74.4 feet, breadth 23.5 feet, depth 7.4 feet, and tonnage 71.20, with a crew of 12 men. 
The types of vessels employed in this branch of the oyster industry consist of 
bug-eyes, schooners, pungies, and large canoes and sloops. The bug-eye, which is 
peculiar to the Chesapeake, is a development of the canoe, from which it differs chiefly 
in having a sharp prow, from a peculiar feature of which it derives its name, and in 
being decked over from end to end with suitable hatchways and without bulwarks. 
The large bug-eyes can not be made of logs, but must be framed and planked. They 
range in length from 25 to 75 feet and in cost from $300 to $2,500, and carry from 50 
to 1,800 bushels of oysters. 
The schooners and large sloops do not differ materially from those employed 
along other portions of the Atlantic coast. Pungies are similar to the schooners, the 
chief difference being in the former having a fuller bow and sharper stern than the 
latter, facilitating the rapid tackings desirable in dredging across the oyster reefs. 
During the summer many of these vessels find employment in transporting farm 
produce and other commodities obtained or utilized along the shores of the bay. 
