Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-07-15
TOUCHING THE LOBSTER.
Its High Price and Scarcity i'm This
City, and the Cause Thereof.

From the New York Sun.
There was virtually corner in the lobster
market yesterday. The fish stands were bare OF
them. frugal housewife bargaining with
dealer for the last two on his stand held up her
hands in horror at the price.
''Yes'm,' said the dealer. deprecatingly.
HOLSTERS is Holsters to-day, and has been tor
some time"
The price was more than twice that usually
asked, but another customer came along and
snapped them up in jiffy. There is a very
large demand at this season of the wear from
hotels and restaurants, both in the city and at
Coney Island. Long Branch, and other resorts,
for Holsters for salads. Many hotels were left
in the lurch entirely.
| tanning himself vigorously s'There are abso-
lutely no lobsters." he said, ''to fill hotel and
restaurant orders to-day. The usual price to
hotels is III cents pound. To-day the nominal
price is Is to 20 cents The scarcity is the result
of everlasting. The demand is the greatest be-
tween June 1 and October l. Between those
dates the lobster is breeding, and half of them
| come to the market full Of spawn. HOLSTERS do
not now frequent the localities in which they
were found ten years or so ago. There used to
be plenty Of them in He'll Gate and New York
bay. On the New Jersey side of the BAY they
were numerous. The bottom is so befouled by
the refuse of the oil refineres that the Holsters
were literally poisoned to death. HOLSTERS are
loulu HoW lTOm SANDY HOOK as Sar south as
Barnegat but not in large quantities. They
run all along the coast northward to the Cana
dian provinces. where they are still found i'm
great abundance. The finest are those caught
OF Cape Cod They are remarkable for their
SIZE and flavor, but are now scarce. They bring
three to four cents pound more than other
Holsters. HOLSTERS average in weight about two
pounds. One of the principal sources now is the
coast of Maine, but here the supply has been
much decreased by the large canning factories
erected in the last few years.
Ali efforts to artifcially propagate the lobster
have failed. Protective laws have been enacted
by Maine, Massachusetts and New York, pro-
hbting the catching Of Holsters less than ten
and a-half inches In length, from the nose to the
tail. These laws have been in force for three
ones are caught and shipped to PENNSYLVANIA
Connecticut and Rhode Island, where no protec-
tive law exists.
ut really begins to look as II lobster would
become an article of luxury and bring the ex-
IRENE figures they are sold at in England and
France, where they are sometimes sold as high
as 50. I'm poor man, but I must have nv
lobster salad for supper every Sunday evening.
no matter what the price is. The demand for
them just now is immense At COney Island
alone, 4,O0O to 5000 pounds day are used in
the height OF the season. Then there are Long
Branch, Rcckaway, and watering places innum-
cradle in the vicinity. to say nothing of hotels
and restaurants in this and near cities At all
OF these lobster salad is the standard dish. Soft
and hard crabs are also growing scarcer. Terra
pins and green turtle cannot be caught as easy as
Holsters and crabs. And that is all know about
Holsters, except that they must go into a pot
tWlce-in the first pot to be caught and into the
second pot to be cooked"