Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-10-11
OYSTERS.
From the Boston Courier.

(another term with which people are more
tamiliar) has arrived, and although the prices
at which they are sold are exhorbitant COM
pared with past years, consumption seems
by no means to fall of.
Oysters produce vast numbers of young
According 70 some calculations each oyster
flor they are hermaphrodite) produces ,200,-
900 eggs. These are hatched within the
shell Of the parent, and the young may at
the proper time be found swimming In the
fluid surrounding its gills. Each young
oyster is about the hundred and twentieth of
an inch in length, and about two millions
may be packed within the dimensions of a
cubic inch. When expelled, and this is done
simultaneously at the spawning season upon
an oyster bank, the water becomes filed as
with thick cloud. Most Of these young
oysters, or Spat, as they are called by the
fishermen, are devoured by fish, or lost by
being drifted into places unsuitable for their
growth. They are furnished with organs
for swimming which are protruded beyond the
shell, and used as fins in propulsion. These
organs have generally been supposed to be
temporary, dwindling away and disappearing
when the oyster becomes fixei, but DR.
Buckland has recently expressed the opinion
that the swimming organ Of the young oyster
is the lungs, and remains as such in the ma
ture oyster. Oysters grow rapidly, and in
favorable situations are usually ready for the
table in year and half or two years.
There are many species of oysters, and
they are found in the seas Of all warm and
temperate climates. The long hinged oyster
OF Ne foundand, Prince Edwards Island,
Novo Scotia, and the estuary Of St. Lawrence
(0Strea CdnadenSiS) has recently been intro
duced into this market, under various jaw
straining aboriginal names, and IS highly es-
teemed. A still more elongated variety is
found in the island of Ceylon, specimens oil
which have been measured over eleven inches
in length, thus confirming the stories related
by the historians of Alcxander'S expedition,
that in india they found oysters foot long.
Rut our principal supply is from the common
Virginia oyster and its varieties, dissemina-
ted along the coast and in the esturaries OF
the rivers, from Florida to Maine, though
now nearly extinct north OF cape cd.
Young oysters readily attach themselves
to the shells of old ones, and thus, in favor
able circumstances, oyster banks increase
| with rapidity. On the coasts of Carolina
and Georgia these banks are very extensive,
extending to and above low water mark
| The people call them RaccOon Tanks, on &C
count of the foudness of he 'coons for oys.
| ters, and their skill in extracting them from
| the shell. So abundant are oysters on these
| banks that a hundred ton schooner may of.
ten be loaded from the bottom over which
she swings when at anchor. Nevertheless
oyster beds may b. over-dredged, and thi:
has destroyed many once productive bank
upon the shores of France and England
where 1t has been found necessary to plan
and protect them to prevent the entire des
truction of the fishery. Oyster cultivation
there has already become very profitable
and is rapidly extending, buf, nevertheless
| American oysters, which are far superior t
| those Of Europe, are becoming, to consider
able extent, an article OF import into th'
| port Of London. he home oyster trade o
| that port amounts to above $50, 1000 bushel
per annum, worth half a million of dollars
In this country, owing to greater cheap
ness and the easier circumstances of th
working classes, the consumption of oyster
is infinitely greater than in England. Th'
| oyster trade of New York alone is estimated
at over $4,000 900 annually. This trade
| says the journal 0t Commerce, is exceedingly
profitable. The finest favored biya!ves axe
planted in the vicinity of New York, ant
| from them are furnished large proportion
| Of those used In the West. Baltimore, how
ever, is also great entrepot for the West
| ern oyster business. A great many small
| oysters are taken in Tappau Bay on the
| Hudson, AMI planted around the city in tht
various bays of the Jersey and Long Island
| shores, where they grow and tatteu rapidly
and acquire superior tavcr. Tie fresh
ness or satness of the oyster depends en-
tirely upon the water in which il is planted
and any of the dealers cal readily furnish 9
fresh or salt bivalve as required. Two
objects are in view in transplanting the oys
| ter to have the different transpanting de
pots convenient to the local trade, and ito i'm
| prove the oyster. IL is singular that oyster.
planted in various waters differ in form anC
| regularity. For instance, the East Rivel
| oysters differ essentially from those growr
in Tappan Bay, and the same is true of Other
varieties. The best oysters are the Saddle
Rocks. Years ago the supply Of these wa
extensive, but now one large dealer coulC
sell double all that are brought to lew York
Thousands of bushels are, however, planted
in that neighborhood, where they grow hear
ty and fat. The Blue Point oyster Is thu
next best, and hardly inferior to the Saddle
Rock. The locality from which these oyS
ters are obtained is on ths South coast o
Long Island, and the trade is conducted b,
fleet of thirty or more vessels. Tn
Shrewsbury oyster is caught in New
ark Bay, and transplanted in Shrews
bury River. There are very few natura
grow th oysters found now in that river, al
though the water is admirably adapted I
the health CT the bivalves. Then there /
the Mill Pond, the Oyster Bay, the Lloyd
Harbor, the Norwalk, the CO Id Spring, and a
endless variety of other oysters daily brough
to the New York market. The trade in tn
Virginia business is constantly increasing
some seventy-fve TO q hundred vessels bein
employed in it. These vessels carry from
2, 900 to 5000 baskets, each containing abou
200 oysters. Unless the State of Virgins
does something 10 prohibit people living out
side OF the State from gathering oysters, tn
business the coming season will be large
and the prices materially cheapened.-
The Virginia oysters are generally fresh, an
not to be compared in richness of flavor {
those gathered and planted around New YOrh
Very fine oysters arc produced in the Rhod
Island waters, from which our market dc
rives q supply, but most OF the oysters solt
In Boston come either directly from Mars
land and Virginia in the winter, or are VII
ginian and aaryland oysters planted aroun
Cape Cod. The latter are known as sa
oysters, while tie former are fresh, havin
grown in the mouths of rivers, or bays fe
by fresh water streams. hey all vary muc
in size and favor, according to locality al
season. Poston Aarbor has become quit
unfit as 4 place for planting oysters, OWN
to the various filth from our sewers an
manufactures, which imparts a dsgustiu
flavor to them.
n - r
McCabe has accepted the call Of the vestr
| A IL, al -, g.