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THE PEARL
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Dredging
is now quite common and is doing much to deplete the mussel-beds of the
west. When one bed is completely divested of shells, the clammer moves
on to another and repeats the process, so that the supply of
fresh-water pearls is coming to depend on the constant discovery of new
mussel-beds. Unless legislation regulates the industry the American
supply will soon cease.
The
cheapest fresh-water pearls in the market to-day are the finest. The
pearlers along the streams of the west and south will no longer part
with the pearls they find to the speculators at the old time prices. In
fact they generally want much more than they are worth and often get
more than the speculator can afford to pay to ensure a profit when he
comes to sell them in the business centres.
But
these fishers know little of the merits and value of the finer
qualities. They do not yet realize the great difference in value which
accrues as the pearl exceeds the average of luster, color, or
perfection, consequently the speculator can often buy a very fine pearl
for little more than he would have to pay for an
282
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