274 
BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
1889-90 the Baltimore marketmen in the aggregate paid $20,000 to be relieved of the 
shells; in 1890-91 some paid to have the shells removed, some succeeded in giving 
them away, while others were enabled to sell, this depending on the storing facilities 
of the respective market-houses, and probably the trade came out even. In 1891-92 and 
1892-93 nearly all the marketmen sold their shells at prices ranging from £ to 1£ cents 
per bushel, the trade receiving each season about $25,000 therefrom. A similar 
condition prevailed at the smaller ports of the State. 
The uses to which these shells are applied are numerous and constantly increasing, 
the principal ones being here enumerated in the order of their extent : 
1. For country-road making and filling in hollows, chiefly in Maryland, but during 
the last three years the Southern States bordering the coast have used large quantities 
for this purpose. 
2. For conversion into lime for use in coal-gas making and other purposes in 
Maryland and adjacent States. 
3. In the cultivation of oysters, mostly in Virginia, but also in Connecticut and' 
elsewhere. In 1891-92 and 1892-93 about 750,000 bushels were each year used 
in this manner. The Chesapeake oyster shells are not so desirable for “ cultch ” as 
those of New York and Connecticut, because of their being thicker and flatter. 
4. For the beds of railroads. While not so endurable or steady as rock, yet they 
answer the purpose very well. Examples of their use in this manner may be found 
along the Baltimore and Eastern Shore railroad, the New York, Philadelphia and 
Norfolk railroad between Salisbury and King Creek, the Sparrow Point road, all in 
Maryland, and on the Southern Pacific railroad near Morgan City, La. 
5. For chicken food. This product is very well known, the shells being merely 
crushed into small particles. Its popularity is increasing, but the quantity of shells 
■utilized is small. 
6. In the manufacture of certain special grades of iron. The shells are used 
because of their being so largely composed of carbonate of lime. 
STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 
Early extent of the industry . — Little reliable data exist with which to exhibit the 
extent of the oyster industry of Maryland prior to 1865. Careful search has been 
made through such Maryland publications of that time as would be likely to make 
reference to this subject, and although this search has not been rewarded with grati- 
fying results the following data have been obtained. 
An official report of the State, made in 1840, estimated the quantity of oysters used 
by the trade during the previous season at 710,000 bushels, the raw-shucking trade 
having been established in 1836; and in 1850 one of the daily papers of the State cal- 
culated that the annual consumption by the trade was then about 1,350,000 bushels, 
the steaming trade having been established four years previously. 
A writer in the Baltimore American in 1857 stated that the quantity of oysters 
marketed in the shell during the preceding season, 1856-57, was 950,000 bushels, 
while the shucking-houses of the State utilized 1,660,000 bushels, a total of 2,610,000 
bushels. The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, of New York, estimated 
in 1859 the Maryland crop for the season 1858-59 to have been 3,500,000 bushels. 
