The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-22
STAMFORD OYSTERMEN.
All Hands Are Busy This Fall and
 Feel Encouraged.

All Hands Are Busy This Fall ant l Feel Encouraged.
 Nine Stamford boats worked upon tn,
 natural oyster beds off Bridgeport last
 week. flSmith Brothers, with two cat
 boats and the Isabel Captain John Me | Guinness, with his sloop Mary Lavina
 press; and Captain E. M. Prior, with
 the sloop Dictator, were among those | representing the local oyster fleet They report the best set for three years, with buyers plenty and prices rising The average price in former years has
 ranged from twenty-five to thirty-tive cents bushel but this year, in combi-
 nation with the large set, there is an upward tendency in the price, very satisfactory state of affairs for the nat ural growers The cause of the pull movement is to be found in the poor sets of the three last seasons. Private oys- ter grounds have become somewhat de- pleted by sales and there has been no opportunity to replenish them. Fms year the oyster men are anxious to take advantage of the favorable set ana plant all they can get hold of. The buyers, who are more numerous than usual. are from Connecticut and Green port. When the weather becomes cool CT it is expected that the oystermen on the south side of Long Island will be around to buy seed.
 This years seed has the advantage or being extra in quality, as well as extra in quantity.
 There are over two hundred vessels employed at present upon the natural beds The number of men engaged upon them ranges from two to five per boat. It is estimated that fully a thousand men are reaping the fruits of the big catch. The average daily haul per Ves- sel is one hundred bushels.
 In speaking of the proposed so-called oyster trust, which failed to materialize last spring, after a gallant effort to gather in a large number of the pads' one of the Stamford oystermen sald, Saturday evening, that he did not thiilK it would ever amount to anything. It would be an Injury to the oyster pusl- ness should it eventually be brought into existence. Lack of funds to attain its purpose was the cause of it's failure, he thought, The promoters found that it would require more capital to secure the amount of ground necessary for success than they could get hold of
 Jacob J. Hausfian. of Reed X Haus- man of Norwalk, who is one of the largest oyster dealers in the country said at his New York office last week in regard to the trust, that he thought eventually the plan would be consum- mated. I think 1t would be great thing" said he 'Tt could not attempt to regulate the price so much as to reg ulate the supply. The difficulty with the trust plan was that many owners wanted more than their plants were worth. and when options to the amount of ten million dollars had been ob- tained the promoters had not secured control of nearly enough to make the plan a success He said in regard to this seasons set on the natural beds in Newark bay and staten Island sound that it was the largest in tWenty-hVe years. It was selling at from thirty to forty cents a bushel.
 The large set this year does not mean that oysters will be any cheaper this season than in previous years. The seed requires three years for it's develop ment before it can be placed upon the market, and by that time the stPrfish and other enemies of the succulent bi- valve may have destroyed so many that there will be no increase in the supply and consequently no lowering of the ce,-Stamford Advocate.