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V ARYLAND OY" ',R BROKE
00457
60£ CF CATCH AND 601
F QUALITY
COMES FROM DREDGES ■•/HICH ENLARGE
BEDS ILLUSTRATING 5 ACRES GREW
"0 20 ACRES IN TWO YEARS
December 7, 1392
The Biloxi Herald - Saturday Evening, August 26, 1893
in Lopez, Dunbar's Sons & Co. Oyster Dredging article
E. C. SHRINER & CO., BROKERS 16 Postoffice Avenue
Baltimore, Md., Dec. 7, 1892 Messrs. Lopez, Dunbar's Sons & Co.
Biloxi, Miss.
Gentlemen:
Vie have unavoidably been delayed in getting certain statistics of the number of bushes of oysters caught in Maryland vaters the past two years, and the number of vessels (dredge and tongs) engaged in the business, hence the reason you have not received any reply from us earlier. No records are kept in Baltimore, and ve -wrote our State Secretary at Annap-'‘lis to furnish the statistics in detail, but it seems that he has to apply to other sources, and up to the present writin^ has been unable to comply with our reqiacst. We hone, however, in a few days, at least, to hear favorably on the sxibject.
Answering your question, "whether the dredging of rank oysters will have a tendency to enlarge the beds, and improve the quality," we answer decidedly yesj and beg to give our opinior., bnsed on the advantages that have been derived in our own waters as follows:
About 60 per cent of all the oysters caught in Maryland waters are taken by dredees and scrapers; the latter beinr a srnall dredge for workine in shallow water. About 60 per cent of all the best oysters; i. e., the largest single oysters which bring the highest market prices, are taken by dredges from deep water beyond the reach of the tonger. This is not because oysters vill not naturally grow to a larger size and more plentiful in deep water than in shallow water, but for a reason which we shall endeavor to explain to you in the following manner:
Take a natural bed of rank oysters in shallow water, or in deep water as veil, that has never been tonged or dredged over, and'you will find the oysters bunched together into a solid mat
in such a manner to not only materially retard but often prohibit its growth.