The curiosities of food

by P. L. Simmonds

The whole shores of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are adapted to the fattening of the oyster, and as but one year is required for a full growth in the beds, an immense profit accrues to those engaged in the business—a profit which is estimated at some 300 to 600 per cent. There were, a few years ago, 250 vessels engaged in the business, which averages about 900 bushels to the cargo, and requires nine to ten days for the trip. These vessels making, in the aggregate, 6,000 trips during the eight months in the year in which they are engaged, gives a total of 4,800,000 bushels per year sold in the Baltimore market. The oysters used to bring an average price of 1s. 8d. per bushel, which makes a grand total of £160,000 per year paid wholesale for oysters by the dealers in Baltimore.

With the spread of population, and the progress of settlement in the interior States, the price of this shell fish is advancing, for a late number of the Baltimore Patriot states:—

‘For some time past these delicious bivalves have been very scarce and in great demand, advancing materially in price. There are several causes for their upward tendency in value. First, in consequence of their scarceness, and the difficulty of procuring them, owing to cold, unfavourable weather. Secondly, an increased demand has sprung up from the west. Large numbers are being shipped in barrels, in the shell and otherwise, to Chicago, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Wheeling, Louisville, and, in fact, to almost every town and city beyond the Alleghenies. A sojourner in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, or even Iowa and Kansas, may, at this season of the year, sit down to a dish of fresh oysters, live and kicking, enjoying luxurious refreshment in comparatively small towns nearly 2,000 miles from Chesapeake. Large shipments of oysters are also making to New York, Boston, and various parts of the north, whilst millions are being put up in cans, hermetically sealed, and sent to all parts of the world. Not long ago, we saw a friendly letter from the mountains of Switzerland, boasting that the writer had just partaken of a dish of delicious Baltimore oysters. It would not surprise us to see the demand far out-reaching the supply, and a gradual augmentation of price. They are now bringing 1 dollar 25 cents to 1 dollar 62¾ cents per bushel at our wharves, and command 9 dollars to 10 dollars per barrel in the shell at Chicago. Equally high prices are given in all the western cities.’

In one of his recent messages to the Virginia legislature, Governor Wise states, that Virginia possesses an area of 1,680,000 acres of oyster beds, containing about 784,000,000 bushels of oysters. It is estimated that the mother oyster spawns annually at least 8,000,000; yet, notwithstanding this enormous productive power, and the vast extent of oyster beds, there is danger of the oyster being exterminated, unless measures are adopted to prevent fishermen from taking them at improper seasons of the year.

A bill was lately introduced in the Virginia legislature, the main features of which are to the following effect:—

1st. Prohibits the taking of oysters by non-residents. 2nd. Provides for the protection of oyster beds during the spawning season. 3rd. Taxes on licenses for taking and transporting oysters, calculated to yield an average of three and a half cents of revenue per bushel. 4th. The appointment of inspectors, &c., to superintend the renting of planting grounds. 5th. The purchase and equipment of four steamers for the enforcement of the law—said steamers to cost a total of 30,000 dollars, and to be employed at a yearly expense of about 7,000 dollars.

The oyster trade is extensively carried on at Boston. Messrs. Atwood have nine vessels exclusively employed in the business, five of which are clipper-built schooners, freighting oysters from the south. They have 75 acres of flats, near what is called White Island, on the Mystic river, where the fresh oysters of the south are transplanted, to grow and fatten in water much softer than their native element, and where they keep a supply in the summer months, and for the winter stock.

It is estimated that the quantity of oysters now planted in the waters of Newhaven harbour, United States, is 500,000 bushels. Estimating 200 oysters to the bushel, this would give one hundred millions of oysters. These oysters are for the early fall trade, and are apart from the enormous quantities imported and opened there during the winter months.

In the Plaquemines region of Louisiana, upwards of 500 men are engaged in the oyster trade, 150 of which number dredge the oysters from the bays, the rest are employed in conveying them to New Orleans. For this purpose, 170 small luggers, sloops, and schooners, of from five to fifteen tons burthen, are in use for five months in the year. During the summer months, they find employment in carrying shells from the islands to the forts and to the city. These made into concrete by a mortar of lime, sand, and hydraulic cement, form the most substantial and imperishable wall known. For public works in process of erection, the city streets, and ornamental walks at private residences, the collection of oyster shells affords good summer employment to this class of persons. From the best information to be had on the subject, the parish of Plaquemines sends a weekly supply to the city of New Orleans of at least 4,000 barrels of oysters, amounting in value during the season to about £25,000.

A South African paper, of a late date, observes:—