THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 
267 
Baltimore raw-shucking trade receipts. 
Season. 
No. of 
bushels. 
Season. 
No. of 
bushels. 
1846-47 
250,000 
1887-88 
2, 893, 755 
1865-66 
1, 875, 000 
1888-89 
2,809,120 
1879-80..'. 
3, 769, 353 | 
1889-90 
3, 206, 177 
1884-85... 
3,255,095 I 
1890-91 
2, 331, 228 
1885-86 
3, 549, 873 j 
1891-92... 
2, 736, 342 
1886-87 
2,975,385 
1892-93 
2, 698, 126 
At present the number of Baltimore houses engaged in shucking oysters for the 
raw trade is 58, with property valued at $1,330,000 ; 10 of these houses, worth $615,000, 
engage also in handling steamed oysters. One or two of them with the wharf prop- 
erty attached are worth $175,000 and are capable of handling 7,000 bushels of oysters 
in a day. The number of persons employed in the raw trade is about 3,650, of whom 
about 3,200 are engaged in shucking. The latter are mostly men, but in some of the 
establishments large numbers of women find employment. The work is fatiguing and 
requires strength as well as skill. The men are usually able to shuck more than the 
women ; and while an able male shucker working 12 hours can make $2.25 per day, 
yet because of the irregular employment the shuckers do not average more than $1.25 
throughout the season. The price paid for this labor is 20 cents per u gallon cup,” this, 
as provided by the statutes (L. 1886, ch. 537), holding 9 pints wine measure. The 
other employes in the raw-shucking trade, numbering about 450 men, are on weekly 
wages, ranging from $6 to $20 per week, and amounting to about $115,000 during an 
average season. 
In addition to labor items, large expenditures are made for ice, tubs, etc., making 
the total cost of handling the oysters in the shucking houses about 25 cents per 
bushel. The total value of the output of the raw-shucking houses of Baltimore dur- 
ing each of the last four seasons has been $2,662,076, $2,373,526, $2,482,000, and 
$2,625,000, or an average for each bushel of oysters received of $0.83, $1.02, $0.90, and 
$0.97, respectively. 
The steaming trade . — The preserving of prepared foods in hermetically sealed tin 
cans was begun in this country about 1844, salmon and lobsters being among the 
first products so prepared. About 1848 a modification of the process employed was 
extended to the preserving of oysters, they being first cooked in kettles. This is said 
to have been originated by Mr. Thomas Kensett, of Baltimore, but the trade was 
developed by Messrs. A. Field & Co., of that city. About 1860 Mr. Lew McMurry 
began scalding the oysters, and the product of his house enjoyed a high reputation.* 
The present method of steaming began about 1864, the procedure then adopted 
differing from the present in that the oysters were placed in baskets holding about 
3 pecks each, and these to the number of about 200 were placed in a large box and 
there steamed. From the beginning of this trade up to the present time it has been 
prosecuted almost entirely at Baltimore, probably not 5 per cent of the total quantity 
of oysters steam-canned in America since 1848 having been prepared in houses outside 
of that city. From 1860 up to 1875 the steaming business was prosperous, but from 1875 
to 1880 reputable firms engaged in this branch of the oyster industry suffered consid- 
erably from the operations of certain unscrupulous packers, who by putting up “ light 
weights” injured the reputation of the Baltimore product. Mutual cooperation 
* In 1852 a canning house was started by Messrs. Piper and Stetson near Stockton, in Worcester 
county, but closed after working a few months. 
