The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1886-03-03

upon the statute book Liquor laws are
well observed in comparison. BY far
the greater part OF the oysters brought
into Baltimore were caught i'm violatian
of this law
Should dredgers confne their opera
tions to legal grounds they claim they
could catch but from twenty-five to fifty
bushels per day while upon forbidden
ground" their hauls sometimes amount
to several hundred of bushels.
Asit is easiest to escape detection at
night or on Sunday when the police
boats are tied up, the dredging on "for-
bidden ground is done then.
Neither captain OF men consider they
are violating any neral law in taking
these oysters, and they could not be in
induced to take them where they had
been planted. They consider this the
meanest kind Of stealing, and to use
their own expression "they only take
oysters where God has planted them.
The combined efforts of the oyster
navy and tongmen, are totally made
quate to carry out the provisions OF the
oyster law. This is not a reflection upon
the navy for it can readily be seen that
no matter how closely it watches the
dredgers, they in turn watch the police
sloops still more closely. The dredgers
are numerous and are bounded together
not for the purpose Of violating the
law, but, as they say, to aid each other
i'm getting the most and best oysters pos
sible. Theboats usually dredge in fleets,
sometimes hundreds being together fire.
quentIv so close to each other as to bare
ly allow enough room to throw the
dredges Ii upon forbidden ground, '
one vessel of the fleet is detailed to
work in lawful waters, as close as pos
sible to the police boat, and the captain
will quickly warn the illegal dredgers OF
its approach by system Of concerted
SIGNALS, and when the officers of the law
approach the fleet they are found to be
quietly at anchor, with their sails furled.
Numerous devices are resorted to by
the drgdgers to circumvent their COM
mon enemy. One captain, according to
a prearanged plan, will proceed to some
forbidden ground where dredging is
completely obnoxious to the captain of
the police boat and begin to make prep
arations as If to dredge. When the
sloop comes after him he will sail away,
still remaining on forbidden ground
until he has drawn the police boat so
farawav from the balance of the dredg-
ing fleet that they can proceed to some
/ interdicted place and dredge for awhile
/ i'm comparative safety, when he will
drop his anchor and turl his sails. If
/ the police captain comes on board he
will find the vessel in no condition to
dredge. Many are the stories of hood
winking the police that captains delight
| i'm narrating but I fOrbear further men
/ tiOn.
"A dredger's life" be he captain, fore
masthand cook, or one of the crew, is
not a happy one Could he dredge in
| the summer it might be tOlerable, but
/ as a winter Job, the tramp who preferred
/ the Jail showed great wisdom.
/ Oysters are good only in months in
which an "r' is found. They spawn in
| May and June and are too weak in
| August to be of any worth.
/ Most of the oysters used by restuar-
ants and hotels in this city and else
/ where along the coast are secured by
tongs or nippers, and are as rule
superior in size to those caught by the
dredgers. There is a small army engag-
ed in "tOnging' but while their product
is much superior in size and quality,
their catch is only a small fraction of
what is produced by the dredgers,
| Tongs are used only in shallow water,
and the oysters are caught from a cmall
boat. generally operated by two men,
one on each side. The tOngs consist of
Il pair of rakes with the teeth curved in
ward and attached to wooden handles
from fifteen to twenty feet long, which
are Joined by pm about one third OF
the distance from the iron. The tong
man plunges his tOngs into the water
open, and working the handle secures q
few oysters, not more than half a peck,
nd, closing his tOngs, brings them up,
and, after sorting, repeats the process
until he has secured q boat load. Cen
orally not over hali-a. dozen bushels is
the result of the labors of two men, in
one dav. Planted oysters caught with
tougs are very fine and bring fancy
prices. The largest and finest oysters
brought to this market are caught with
nippers, one at a time, in clear, shallow
water where they can be seen by a man
sailing over them in a small boat The
oysters are often ransplanted and they
propagate rapidly and mature in three
years. Whether constant dredging, con-
fined TO seven months in the wear, will
finally exhaust the supply in the Chesa-
peake Bay, can not be determined, as
different theories are held i'm regard to
the matter. We sincerely trust our
broiIs, stews, raws, Tries and roasts may
never be curtailed.
1t is estimated that the total oyster
crop of the world is about S,903, ,OOO,O 900
bushels of which North America fur
nishes 5.5T2, 100000 bushels.
Oysters brought To- Baltimore this sea-
son by dredgers are sold all the way
/. from twenty-five cents TO one dollar per
, bushol, according to the demand. A
bushel of shell oysters yield about one
gallon. 1t costs from fifteen to twenty
cents to get bushel "shucked." Shuck-
, ers that are rapid workers can open from
fifteen to twenty bushels perda Here
we can get the 'lquOr' with the oysters
3 which is a vast improvement over what
our western friends usually secure,
When the oysters are to be shipped the
liquor is poured of and then plunged