The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-06-25
The Helpless Bivalve.

If they had not noticed it already, it is
perhaps unnecessary to inform our read
ers that the oyster crop of the present
season is in several respects better than
that which we have had for number of
| years past. From almost every point at
| which these shell-fsh are collected re-
ports have been received that the fish are
this year generally larger and healthier
than usual, statements which those who
are at all critical in their tastes must
have had many opportunities of verify
ing. But while recognizing the increased
excellence of the oyster this winter as an
article of food, we have not been able,
even from those who are directly inter
ested in the business, to obtain any we'll
defined reason for the admitted improve
ment. Indeed, very few attempt to ac-
count for the change, and the only fairly
sensible explanation that we have heard
given is that the sea water was of
warmer temperature this year during the
months of September and October than
for number of preceding years. OF
course, this may in no way account for
the circumstance that has been men
toned, for the subject is one which does
not appear to have attracted the amount
of scientific investigation that it deserves.
In fact, there are several features in re-
spect to oysters that do not seem to be
generally known. If information re-
ceived from those who are in the busi-
ness, added to some slight personal ex-
perience, is worth anything, the oyster,
unlike most kinds of fish. improves by
keeping out of the water. Perhaps, how
ever, it ought to be said in explanation
that very few fish can continue to live
for any length of time, after a removal
L, klak1
oysters lose their virtue quite as quickly
as other fish. But if oysters are care
fully packed, with the bowl shaped shell
underneath. they viii live in temperate
atmosphere for number of days, feed
ing on the liquid that is confined within
their shells. If they are opened immedi-
ately after they are scooped from the
ground, the fish will be found floating,
so to speak, in quite quantity of water,
but if they are opened after three or four
days proper keeping, this water will al
most wholly have disappeared, while
the fish will be found much richer and
fuller than it was on the first day, the
reason given by oyster dealers for this
being that it has fed itself on the liquid
that had previously been in the she'll
This leads to the remark that the desir-
ability of packing oysters in ice is an
open question.
A large number of the best-informed |
men in the trade maintain that the prac-
tice of putting large Jumps of ice upon
oysters in the shell that have been stacked |
up, as they commonly are in restaurants, |
is highly injurious one. If the fish are |
dead, no doubt this treatment is intend
ed to keep them in condition to be fit |
to eat; bnt if they are dead they have al
ready lost large part of their excellence |
as species of human food, as they should
remain alive until killed by the forcing
open of the shells. IF, however, they are
alive, this application Of ice, It is said,
is pretty certain to put speedy end to
their existence. To the many lovers of
this shell-fsh the controversy is one of
no slight importance, and the question
involved should be settled definitely |
one way or the other.-N. p. Times.
The REAL AND UNREA1.-Those who
get their ideas of French domestic life
from scrofulous French novels will be
little startled to learn that the widow of
Cham" otherwise the Vicomte de Noe,
,he great caricaturist, has killed herself
IN fit of dependency over the loss of
her husband. Probably even in France,
she last place where one would look for
tenderness and devotion even
10 death, would be in the household of
that remorseless and unsparing satirist,
who had for years been the Nemesis of
French vanity, folly and weakness. But
here is no civilized country in the
world in which domestic affection is SO
strong as in France, none in which the
lies of marriage and kindred are SO
potent an influence; and the true life of
France is something as different from
,he boulevard novel as the true life of
America is different from the dime novel.
Comments.
Prof. j. NJ. Gregory, President of the
illinois Industrial University says:
Every editor is a teacher, teacher of
nen as we'll as of children. The news
PAPER is the freshest of books.
ssIt is the latest history, the newest
cience treatise, the current political
the manuel of the arts, the
ext-book of living philosophy.