Barrels. 63,000 12,000 Value. $693,000 Virginia oyster-beds. During the war this that a larger number and variety of fish as trade was entirely suspended, and supplies cend the Maumee river in the spring to were drawn from Baltimore, and Chesapeake spawn, than in any other river on the globe. Bay, and from the New Jersey and Long These fish give rise, as a matter of course, to Island oyster-beds. The price went up, but a large business. The number of barrels the supply was as great and the quality as caught annually is about 75,000, which may good as ever. Baltimore is one of the great be divided as follows: Lake Superior, 6,000; marts of the oyster trade. In 1862, 33 Michigan, 25,000; Huron, 24,000; Erie, oyster firms of that city packed 1,500,000 8,000; and 12,000 barrels in Detroit river. bushels of oysters, those sold in the shell Being sold at an average of $11 per barrel, netting $700,000, and about $3,200,000 the aggregate value is about $825,000. Oneworth being opened, canned and packed for sixth of the whole quantity is salmon trout, exportation the same year. In 1869 the the remainder white fish. The mode of taking business is said to have reached over fif them is by "gill nets" set some ten miles teen millions of dollars: The number of from the shore. Considerable numbers are hands employed was about 16,000. Fair taken when, having been up Detroit river Haven, Conn., is also very largely engaged from Lake Erie to spawn, they are on their rein the trade. In 1860, about one million turn. There are about 50 fisheries on the bushels were sold there in the shell, and river. In some of the rivers that flow into the one million gallons opened and put up lakes, great quantities of pickerel are caught, for exportation. The native oysters, or what say Fox river, Wisconsin, 1,000 barrels ; Sagare considered such, being propagated from inaw river, 1,500 barrels; St. Clair, 15,000 old plants, are taken mostly for the city barrels; Maumee, 3,000 barrels, and as much trade, while the transplanted oysters find mullet, bass, etc. The annual product of the their way all over the country by railroad. lakes and tributaries is given as follows: To preserve them, they are first opened and put into kegs or cans of a capacity of twelve to twenty gallons each. These are then put into boxes and surrounded with ice. There are some 450 vessels employed in carrying oysters to New Haven. There are about 20 houses engaged in the business, One of the most remarkable fisheries is the largest having branches in Buffalo, Cleve- carried on in Long Island Sound and some land, Hamilton, and elsewhere. These firms other localities. It is the taking of menemploy a great number of boys and girls in haden or bony fish for manure. These fish opening the oysters. The operation is per- go in immense schools, which show themformed with incredible dispatch by the ex- selves in ripples upon the surface of the perienced hands. The instruments used are water. They are taken by nets, which may a hammer to crack the edge on a slip of be seen by the steamboat traveler, hung iron fixed upright in the bench, and a knife. upon immense reeds at the water's edge to The latter is always held in the hand, while dry. These nets are weighted with lumps the hammer is seized, the blow given, and dropped, the knife inserted, and the oyster, being seized between the knife and the thumb, is pitched into the tub. The movement produces a constant click-gouge-splash, click-gouge-splash, as the tub rapidly fills with the "bivalves" previous to packing. The openers formerly received 2 cents a quart, and earned from $1 to $2 a day. There are 150 oysters to the gallon, and to earn $2, 100 quarts, or 3,750 oysters, must be opened, or during 12 hours 50 per minute! They now get 4 cents a quart. The sea-coast by no means monopolizes good fishing. In and about the great lakes there are 35 varieties of fish and it is said Lakes.... 132,000 20,000 220,000 95,000 $1,045,000 of, lead at the lower edge, having floats at the top, so as to keep them upright in the water. The fishers, in boats, pay out the net from one and the other, and encircle the school with it. The two ends then being carried to the shore, are drawn in with great force, and an immense haul of fish results. With the bony fish, many of a better class are caught, but if the aggregate will not equal 150 cart-loads, it is not thought large. These fish are spread upon the land as fertilizers. They are far better for the land than for the neighbors, who for miles around suffer odors not from "Araby the blest." The whale fishery began at the close of the 17th century, in Nantucket, and that Westport... The Mattapoisett. 9 2,389 New London, Ct.. 19 Edgartown..... Beverly. Salem.. Sag Harbor, L.I.. Falmouth.. Sperm oil, in 1863. 42,408 pounds. 11 2,715 4 1,141 ... 3 638 3 301 10 has been, until very recently, its chief loca- The following table, compiled from government statistics, shows the condition of the whale fishery in January, 1864 For how many years, not to say centuries, was the vast icy wealth which nature confers upon northern latitudes in such profusion, and within reach of every individual, utterly unappreciated and neglected! The use of ice was indeed known to the luxurious few in remote ages. The ancient Romans learned to cool their choice wines with frozen water, and almost in every age, the "upper ten" were acquainted with its merits. Like education, and suffrage, and freedom of opinion, and toleration in religion, it however became known to and extended among the people only under our federal government. It is now no longer regarded as exclusively a luxury, but has become a necessity. Under almost all circumstances, water is made palatable by it, and wines are improved by its application. The introduction of water into large cities by aqueduct, is made acceptable to citizens not only in the summer but also in the winter by the use of ice. The excuse for ardent drinks based on poor water, is removed by the possession of ice, since tepid water is rendered attractive by it. When water is thus rendered agreeable, the temptation to indulge in strong drinks is diminished. By its use, also, the supply of food is virtually enhanced, since *This is certainly not more than one-tenth of the actual business. it is ever increasing. the surplus of districts, that might otherwise sends the annual crop, which like the manna be lost, can be sent to a considerable distance has only to be gathered, and the market for to supply the wants of large cities. The surplus supplies that may thus accumulate, There were many farmers possessed of icecan be preserved for a longer time by the houses in the middle states, at a date as far use of ice. The fruits of the West Indies back as the formation of the government. may be preserved in the northern cities, and But the idea of making a trade of it seems those of our own orchards are by the same to have occurred first to Frederick Tudor, means preserved for the markets of India, Esq.,. of Boston, in 1805. He shipped a Brazil, and the West Indies. Packet ships cargo in that year from Boston to Martinique. no longer carry live fowls and pigs, since a The ice was cut with axes, and carted in small ice-house may be packed with fresh wagons to Gray's wharf, Charlestown, where provisions for the voyage. The markets of it was shipped. The voyage proved a total all large cities are provided with hundreds loss, as did several succeeding ones, until the of ice-chests, in which fresh provisions are war put an end to trade. Mr. Tudor resumpreserved free from taint. Fishermen have ed it at the peace, and persevered in face of become greatly dependent upon ice, which continued losses, until 1823, when he exenables them to keep a large and full supply tended it to the southern states, and the of fish in every variety, and almost every West Indies, and it began to pay. family has its refrigerator or ice-box, which, as it was a losing business he had it all to regularly supplied, is the recipient for butter, himself; as soon as his perseverance had milk, and other food. Thus families are as mastered the business and made an art of it, readily furnished with ice as with milk. he began to have competitors. Up to 1832, To country houses and substantial farmers, however, he was alone in it, and in that ice-houses have become a necessity for the year extended his shipments to Calcutta, same general reasons. Madras, and Bombay, and also to Brazil. These were the first ice shipments ever made to those countries, and they have ever since been good customers. Since 1832, a number of firms have engaged in it. In that year the shipment was 4,352 tons, cut from Fresh Pond. In 1854, it had grown to 154,540 tons. Not the least important use of ice is its medical applications. It is a reliable tonic and of the safest. In cases of fever it has become of general use. In India the first prescription of a physician is ice, and sometimes it is the only one, and the ice is always American! If India sends us her opium, she gets as valuable a return in ice. That article is also a styptic, and has many important medical applications. All these benefits and many more were annually provided for humanity in the frosts of winter and in the congealing of water, but were disregarded until an enterprising Yankee adopted the notion of harvesting that crop. Massachusetts to be sure has but two crops, and it required two centuries to discover them. For more than 200 years the snow fell upon and melted from her granite hills, before speculation, putting its hand upon them, sent them along the coast by schooner loads as material for palaces. For more than 200 successive winters the clear and sparkling ice showed itself upon her ponds, and vanished under the vernal sun, before enterprise detected in its preservation the means of increasing human enjoyment. Those frozen lakes were each winter covered with gold, but, like that of California, it was long undiscovered. It will, however, never run out, since, without ploughing or sowing, nature As long The The use of ice extended itself in all the cities of New England, and in Boston became very general. The quantity there used is about 70,000 tons per annum, against about 27,000 tons in 1847. The ice is cut mostly from Fresh and Spy Ponds; at the former the houses are capable of containing about 87,000 tons. The price of ice for shipping is usually $3 per ton, and rises from that to $9 after mid-winter. article is served to families at the rate of $10 for the season, May to October, for nine lbs. per day; 15 lbs. are served for $12, and 24 lbs. for $16. When large quantities are served, the price is 25 cts. per hundred, and $4 per ton to hotels, when 500 lbs. per day are taken. In New York the quantity used is nearly 450,000 tons. This is supplied in the proportions of 130,000 tons from Rockland Lake; 50,000 from Highland Lake; New Rochelle, 20,000; Athens, 100,000; Rhinebeck, 30,000; Kingston Creek, 80,000; Catskill, 25,000; Barrytown, 15,000. Of this quantity, 350,000 tons are stored by the Knicker bocker Company, and the rest by other firms. The cities of Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Albany, Troy, lay up from 10,000 to 50,000 tons each. In central and western New York the use of ice is large. It commenced at Syracuse in 1844 for the supply of a saloon, and it was gradually extended to butchers and families, and the quantity there used is about 25,000 tons, taken mostly from Onondaga Lake, from which it is drawn two or three miles to be stowed in an icehouse. The other cities of western New York have followed the example, and the average price is 35 cts. per hundred. Cincinnati used to draw its supply of ice from its own vicinity; but the railroad facilities permit of drawing it cheaper and better from the lakes. Chicago is well supplied from the same source. In the neighborhood of Peru, Illinois, a large quantity is cut for the supply of the lower Mississippi. It is cut in the winter and packed in flat-boats which are allowed to freeze up in the Illinois river; there is therefore no other ice-house needed. As soon as the river breaks up in the spring, the boats float down stream and supply the markets below. In Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, ice is more important than in the cities of the North. When the weather sets in cold in the early part of the winter, they cut ice in the neighborhood, but the best supplies are from Boston or from more northern lakes. The Atlantic and Gulf cities of the South get most of their ice from Boston, which sends them about 110,000 tons per annum, and further quantities to Havana and the West Indies. Rio Janeiro, Callao, and Peru, Charleston, Mobile, and New Orleans, are large customers of Boston in the article of ice. In New Orleans, substantial brick ice-houses have been erected at a cost of $200,000, and similar arrangements have been made in Mobile for its distribution. The quantity exported to Europe is large, and England takes about 1,000 tons of American ice. were engaged upon cutting ice on the same pond as to their comparative rights. This was settled at Fresh Pond by a committee, who decided that each owner should hold the same proportion of the contiguous surface of the pond as the length of his shore line is to the whole border. The time for cutting is December and January. The "experts" can in the middle of January estimate the value of the crop. When the ice is sufficiently thick to cut, say from nine to twenty inches, the former for home use and the latter for exportation, if there should be snow upon the surface, it is removed by wooden scrapers drawn by horses. There is a layer of what is called "snow ice," that is not fit for market; this must be removed, and for this purpose an iron scraper with a cutting-edged steel is drawn over it by a horse. A man rides upon the scraper, which in its progress cuts several inches of the snow ice from the surface of the clear and glittering article that is to go to market. When this is completed, the field of ice is marked off into squares of five feet each. The marker is drawn by a horse, and is guided by handles like a plough. In the tracks of these marks and cross marks follows the cutter. This is a remarkable invention, which has reduced the cost of cutting ice in the neighborhood of Boston alone, some $15,000 per annum. Acres of ice are thus cut into square pieces, which are then floated off through canals, and impelled by long poles, to the sides of the pond, where inclined planes lead up to the ice-houses; up this inclined plane each piece is dragged with great celerity by a powerful steam engine. In the house it is directed by hand down other planes to be packed away by the requisite number of men. By the aid of steam ten tons of ice may be cut and housed in a minute. With a full power, it is not uncommon to stow 600 tons an hour. Sometimes there are several parties on the pond, each vieing with the other in the rapidity of their operations. It follows as a matter of course, that where Most of the ice-houses that we have seen this object of industry and enterprise is are built of wood. Sometimes they are formed by nature, the means of conducting found of brick. They are very high and the trade will gather around it. Hence broad, and are usually from 100 to 200 feet the land in the immediate neighborhood in length. Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Mass., of fresh-water lakes at the North rises in value, and good wages come to be earned in the winter by men who at the dull season would otherwise not be employed. The question soon presented itself to those who has its shores almost covered with some fifty of these ice-houses. They present a singular appearance, neither looking like barns nor houses; and one unacquainted with the ice business would be almost certain to ask, on |