The daily gazette., 1881-01-07
THE FREEZING OYSTERS.

1 A.A@ SOA41 "@1 AAh AMI TdA AL
VANCE IN PRIcR-sTEAM HousEl
CLOSED.
or all the different indusrites which
have bean affected by the late cold
weather, none have suffered more ss-
verely than the houses engaged In the
packing Of raw oysters fer inland
markets. ssThe Baltimore American
says.--"We have on many occasions
described the suffsrings and hardships
Of the dredgers, their constant expo
sure, hard work, and generally unhap.
py lives; aud no one who has read an
account of q trip on q dredger will
wonder that during the late severe
cold weather such captains az succeed
ed in getting their vessels to port in
safety should hesitate about going
down again until the weather moder-
ated. In the fall Of the year oyste rs
were, as usual, very cheap. Every
boat in the dredging business was hard
at work and made regular trips, arriv-
ing at the packing and steam houses
with large cargoes. There was very
little demand for oysters in the West
and South, and while steam houses
made the most Of it, and kept running
day and night, raw houses purchased
but few, and sold those as low as 70
cents per gallon. Early in the season
oysters suitable for steam houses were
sold from the vessel as low as is to 20
oerts per bushel, aud to raw houses as
low rs 40 cents. About bushel and
half is the average to the gallon
When the cold weather came on, the
creeks and rivers down the bay froze
up. Vessels which were laden were
ice bound, oysters were hard to pro-
care, and, with all this, the demand
for them increased, and naturally the
prices advanced very rapidly. 1t is
one popularity about lovers Of oysters
that few care for them except In yery
cold weather, and the colder the wea-
ther the greater the demand. The
months containing the requisite R also
contain a good deal of cold weather.
and the colder it becomes the better IL
biyalve patronized.
The distinction between the steam
houses and raw packing houses is in
the fact that in the former the oysters
are cooked, and then, when packed.
will keep an indefinite period of time.
Those packed in raw houses will keen
but a few days. They are opened and
packed raw, and, If the weather il cod
will keep a week, or maybe ten davs:
but, If it is mild or warm are not long
in an eatable condition. Hence, the
raw packers eau get up no possible
corner in their merchandise. Thev
can't buy it ito arrive" for the goods
may spoil on their hands, There are
several millions ofbushels packed an
nually by the raw houses In Balti-
more, and all have to be purchased,
and packed 10 order.
IL the price among the dredgers
ums up 20 cents bushel during The
lay and the packers have orders to fill,
hey have tito pay or 60 without the
oysters. At the commencement of the
present cold snap oysters were being
old by the dredgers Il. e., those suitable
or raw houses) at 40 cents per bushel.
md the packers were shipping them at
u cents per gallon, leaving a margin of
'ut 10 cents TO cover expenses, Shocking,
tc. Upon the first rise the steam houses
Ill closed, and from 40 cents oysters ad-
anced from 8 or 10 cents at time until
hey reached 80 cents psr blshel-the
resent wholesale price. If 10 the fall
1 the year the competition had not re-
uced the price to 10 cents per gallon
he present raise would not be felt no
luch by the Western and Southern Gus
omers, but the fact that from rs cents | ,
hey went up to 10, 80, 90 81 and are now
t $l.25 seems to them strange, aud yet
he margin In raw oysters at so cents per
ushel and slips per gallon is only s
ents, when at 10 cents per gallon and
. cents per bushel it Is twice that
mount. There are over 5000 hands en-
| Dyed by the aw.houses of Baltimore,
nd their goods are better known
lroughout the whole length and breadth =
the land than any other article ship q
ed from any other port in the country. Z
loney can be aud is made by those 9
ouses when oysters are cheap and the \
emand good, but season like the pre-
int runs up the prices In such an ex-
'aordinary way that their customers fail :
understand it; but, as oysters have be- D
ome almost staple article OF food In I
II sections of the country, the demand
lust necessarily be supplied, no matter I
hat the cost. At the retail cellars
round Baltimore oysters are now bring
g 81 q gallon-double the price =
asked FOR them.