The inhabitants of the town tried the experiment of bringing oysters from the south and laying them down on the flats, which succeeded well. In the course of a year they doubled their size and their quality was much improved. This soon became a large business, and a number of vessels have been employed in the spring of every year in bringing them here. The number of bushels which are now [1844] annually brought is about 60,000. Nearly all the oyster shops and stands in Boston, and other cities and towns in this State, are supplied from this place, and are kept by persons belonging to the town. This business affords a living for many families. Mr. Ernest Ingersoll thus describes the decline of the oyster trade in 1870:-- The war of the rebellion, however, interfered somewhat with the oyster trade, and it began to decline so far as Wellfleet was concerned. Then the various dealers in northern ports, having learned something, began to bed near home in their own harbors, and so saved freightage. Finally, the steamers from Norfolk and the railways entered into so serious a competition that fully ten years ago [1870] Wellfleet Bay was wholly deserted by the oystermen as a bedding ground, though her vessels still continue to carry cargoes in winter from Virginia to Boston, Portland, Salem, Portsmouth and the Providence River, to supply the active trade and fill the new beds, which the dealers at these various ports had learned could be established at home. The reader thus discovers how important a part Wellfleet has played in the history of the oyster trade of New England. A hundred thousand bushels of the bivalves once grew fat along her water front, and thousands of dollars were dispensed to the citizens in the industry they created. Now [1880] a little experimental propagation, to the value of a few hundred dollars, and about 6,000 bushels of bedded oysters from Virginia, worth perhaps $5,000 when sold, form the total active business. The oyster fleet, however, remains, though greatly diminished, and carrying its cargoes to Boston, Portland and elsewhere, instead of bringing them to be laid down in the home harbor. It will be long before Wellfleet, and its neighbor, Provincetown, lose the prestige of old custom as oyster carriers. (3) _Oyster Raising._--In 1876 the first attempt to raise oysters from "seed" at Wellfleet, is said to have been made by E. P. Cook, who obtained a grant from the town of about 30 acres, on which were planted 500 bushels of "seed" from Somerset, Mass. The "Oysterman" of Dec. 20, 1906, gives the following account of oyster planting at Wellfleet:--