Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-28
OYSTERS on THE SICK LIST.
Strange Reports About the Usually
Healthy BivaIVe-OysterS IIatched to
Order.

Ne1C York sun.
The report comes from MARYLAND that
some unknown and terrible maladv is
destroying her oysters. Nearly a million
bushels of marketable oysters have been
killed by this disease the present season.
they say. Oystermen here do not believe
II. They do not take any stock in stories
of disease among oysters. Said one of the
oldest Fulton Market dealers yesterday:
There IS present scarcity of oysters in
the Baltimore market. and New York feels
il, not because any of our supply
comes from there. but because they are
not able TO shuck and ship to the West
what their trade demands, and cOnse-
quently the trade falls back OH us. But
that scarcity is caused, not by any NAL
adv, but by storms and high winds, which
have prevented the tOngerS from gather
ing the oysters and the boats from bring
ing them into market. They get up stories
of that sort down there periodically to RN-
cuse little rises in the price Of oysters.
and the stories are swallOwed-in the
West. l have seen it stated that some
thing is wrong with the oysters Oh the
south shore of Long Island this year, and
that the Princes Bay oysters are poor.
That is simply not true"
Mr.. Blackford talked on the subject in
his tall tower, where he carries on a fish,
oyster and aXOllotl hatchery. He has
Il pet. After he had rigged a micrOSCODe
on the atomic oyster and had shown how
it wagged the prObOscis-like mouth, that
it will absorb by the end of its third
month, he said:
Last year the oysters on the south side
of Long Island We're so poor that they
were unfit for food. As far as we could
hnd out, their condition was due to a
want of sufficient food. They were thin
and U-9tarv and af M tfr,o dYrin.r tIo
season did they become large and plump.
\ plague among the Maryland oysters
will not affect the New York market per
cepthly, as our supplies are drawn almost
entirely from our surrounding waters. |
haven't the slightest idea what the malady
is or might be, and don't believe much
in it.
''The oysters from the south side of
Long Island this year are unusually good.
ROckaways are better than they have
been before in five years, and are very
abundant. Last year they were very poor.
So far as | have noticed, the Princes Bay
oysters this season are in unusually good
condition.
The only malady | have ever known
oysters to be affected with was what was
called green gill; The Long Island oys-
ters have been affected by it very often.
lt.gives the meet of the oyster a decided
green tinge, and consumers of oysters
fight shy of them when they have that col
or, because they think it is caused by cop
per. But it is not. Last year we found
that the oysters green tinge was caused
by feeding upon minute alg9, which do not
at all affect their flavor, healthfulness, or
condition. The European oysters afe al
most always tinged with green, and our
English cousins think an oyster is hardly
good 10 eat unless it is green.
''By the way, early this season Professor
RYDER, of the United States Fish Commits
sion, Matched young oysters and planted
them in an artificial pond, where the tide
ebbed and flowed. Now those oysters are
three-quarters of an inch in diameter.
This Is the first successful attempt ever
made to artificially propagate the oyster.
They have been successfully hatched be-
fore, but could only be got to live seven
and eight days, and then would die. But
these are now living, 1Ourishing and
growing in the third month. This is
probably one of the greatest discoveries
ever made in this line, as it settles the
question of the practicability of the artifi-
cial propagation of the oyster and of its
being done at very small expense"