The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-08

An Immense Industry OF Which but Little
L. Il

1.-THE hero who was the first man 10
swallow an OYSTER says the New YORK
sun, would be astounded If he could
read part OF a recent bulletin or the
United States Fish Commission and see
what an important industry he stafteu
all by himself This bulletin tells about
the oyster business In Maryland, put ~
Maryland produces one-third OF the
worlds oyster product, the story OF lhS
industry in that State contains about an
that is necessary TO an understanding ol
the importance OF the oyster Oh eoNi-
merce
duced in the world each year neaiy
80, 90 900 bushels are na.lyes OF the Jhlttu
States, and more than i.,JvJ,0Jy DushsIs
come from Maryland waters The NdIue
of Marylands annual product IS neaIiy
$500. 900: that OF the United States about
Sl6.0y.OoV, and that OF the rest OF uIe
worlds "A little more than $lZ,JWv'' -
viii be noted that a higher Valuation pei
bushe is put upon foreign than upon
United States oysters. TINS Is because
good oysters are cheap here. Whine poor
oysters are dear elsewhere. When "A rover
OF this deicacy calls Tor oysters III
London clearinghouse he Is asked ne
will nave the best, and when ne says thdt
he will he gets a sample Of Holland )
product. The oyster beds Of HOllanl
yield about 1000 bushels year, ana
they are valued in this computation at
<ifV,vJV, OF more IMAM - "A bLSAti -hHi
land oysters are put down at shade
over fifty cents per Dushel; but there can
be no comparison between the Succulent
morsel Of Maryland and the rugged ola
mollusk of Holland. The latter, as eaten
in Europe looks and tastes somewhat
like an anle-bellum copper cent spattered
with acid and sprinlled with pepper; and
when the partaker tackles TINS sO-calied
deilcacy from Holland IL seems TO nm
that the chief dliferencef between me
EGUeI WOulU
that the cent might kill him and the
oyster might not.
'"rhe prehistoric shell mounds Of this
country show that the Indians were large
cor sumers Of oysters before any Whlte
man came. Thus We find that the noble
American and the noble Roman were eat
ing oysters probably simultaneously at
a period anterior 10 any known ass0cla-
ton Of the white and the red races. Ihdt
the early white corners 10 these shores
did not bring with them the art OF eating
oysters and were slow 10 learn II from the
Indians. seems evident from writing OF
John Smith. published i'm 1851. in which
be says substantially that the colonists
got nothing IN the way OF food from The
waters of the Chesapeake. ltdli cen
fury later il was written OF the Nent
Islanders that one Of their grieNous hard
shius was having TO eat oysters TO keep
from starving. \ hundred years later be-
gan the oyster war that has ragged up 20
this time between Maryland and Virginia,
and II is probable that the outbreak OF
hOsfilfties marks the BEGINNING OF the
| Importance of the oyster industry in the
United States. The Marylanders and the
| Virginians discovered then that a good
| oyster was worth fighting for IL Is i'm
| uOSgible 10 speak of the present aspect
Of the contest for like the revolutions in
Central America, IL IS kaleidoscope.
Nothing but the latest telegrams from
the troubled waters can afford view Of
| the situation up TO date. Meanwhile,
despite the war. the development Of the
industry went on until. through the mag
nitude chiefly OF the operations in Mary
land. the oyster business took first rank
among the fishery industries Of the United
| States"