The Osceola times., 1880-11-27
The Oyster a"d His En-. mics.
lDndon NeWs

Oysters may be generally classified
into natives and d. ep-sea, and etween
these there are several varieties the
shells of most Of which have in nv mu-
scum. The deepsea oysters are as diff
trcnt in form and fishion from the ma
tives as a CT, d-sdale cart horse is from
thoroughbred race hor,e. Like hors,s,
oysters have tn,ir points. Tie points o,
an oy-ter are-first, the shape. which, 10
he ierfect, sbouId resemble very much
the petal Of a rose leaf. Next, the thick
ners Of the shell. A first class thoroup h.
bred naive SHOULD have shell of the
tebuit, OF thin China or Japanese tea.
cup. II should also have AN almost me
tallic ring, and n peculiar opale-cent lis-
ture on the inner side; the hollow Tor The
meat OF the oyster should he as much
like an epg cup AZ possible. Lastly, the
meat itself should be white and firm and
nut-like IN taste.
Being Of very delicate, tender ma
ture, the oyster has a great many diffi
culties to encounter. Oae OF his worst
enemies is the "ive-fnrer," commonly
called the starts The fve-fnger en-
twines the oyster in his deadly grasp,
and by portruding his elastic stomach
eats up the oyster, leaving the empty
shells, known as clocks" One would
hardly Imagine that the five. finger had
any sense, but sull they must have some
kind Of intellil cnce, or, rs a dredgerman
aptly put it to me: "When these FIVE
fingers finds feet of vessels on the top
Of them with the drednes, they double
themselves up and are off They are not
going to s,op to be all uredged up" The
next worst enemy is the "whelk tinple
or "dog whelk." These rascals, although,
they look s, innocent, have the power of
boring into the oyster shell with their
rasp.like tongue. The hole this creatt r.
makes is GU very clean, as if bored by n
jewellers diamond, and they often de-
stroy hundreds OF pounds worth of prop
erty. He who would invent trap to
catch these dog. helks would indeed be
q benefa,tor to oyster fishery proprietors
Peiiwinkles are friends to ovsters; they
are largely employed to keep the beds
and the ''clutch" clean by eating up the
shiny green weed that grows 80 abund.
sntls. especially in hot weather. Mussels
xre no friends to oysters. A colony of
muss.ls will, unknown to the proprietor
of The oyster bed, often settle upon the
"spem greais" Of "halfw ware,' 80 care
sopy uCpooitVu, w kAoW anu idt. ut
mussels Immediately on settling down
rpin th, ir curious, silk-like webs, as seen
under piers, etc, by means Of which they
are enabled to anchor themselves so
firmly. The run Of the tide then brings
mud, the webs OF the mussels collect il,
and the oysters underneath. unless re-
leased by the dredpe, are smothered like
the Princess in the lower.
1t will be remarked that there is no
real fat" in an oyster; TO atten oysters,
therefore, is an expressive. but not cor
rect term. One thing l must advise my
readers IN do during the present state Of
the oyster market, and that Is, never to
allow the oyster to be served TO them on
the fat shell out always on the round
shell, with the natural liquor lett in the
hollow. This liquor is not sea. water,
but contains much of the same chemical
ingredients ~ the oyster itself. This
hitherto for the most part We have allow
ID those who opeu oys ters for us 10 throw
away ~ useless. This hint. II the oyster
ester IL wise, he will at once adopt.