Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-26
Written for TIE EVENING stan.
THE BLUE POINT FRAUD.
Charles Delmonico Tells How the
American Public Is Gulled.

Charles Delmonico Tells How the
American Public Is Gulled.
FEW BLUE POINT oYsTHRs oBTAINABLE, But CHEAP
cULL1Nos SOLD FoR TIE MOST KxPENsrvH BIZ
vALvEs-wHIRI THE GENUINE CREATURES CAN
BE OBTAINED AND HOW REcoGNIzKD.
A lover Of the good things of life cannot
dwell upon . more momentous subject than
the oyster; it is the preface to every well-con-
ditioned dinner; it constitutes the model lunch
that he may eat who runs; and in its numer-
ously cooked forms it furnishes greater vari-
ETY. Of dishes than any other object Of CASTRO
| nomic treatment
In fact discussion Of the oyster opens up a
field so vast that it can only be confined by the
covers Of q good-sized book, and. therefore,
will limit my words to one membef-and that
the most misunderstood-of this numerously
named family, and that is the Blue Point
oyster. have heard and have read frequent
arguments between the two extremes Of the
dogmatic men who insist that There are no
longer any genuine Blue Points; they are ex-
tinct, and the credulous fellow who believes
that every diminutive oyster placed before him
is of this famous kind
Both OF these numerous classes of men are
sadly mistaken. The true Blue Point still ex-
lsts-ln very limited numbers, it is true-but it
Is MADE the subject OF more misrepresenta-
tlon and more successful deception than any
other food product known to mankind. Ex-
travagant as that statement may seem it is not
one Jot beyond the truth. Not only are other
bivalv opened in tie name of the Blue Point,
but for the purposes of this masquerade there
are selected what would otherwise be consid-
cred the refuse Of cargo of oysters. the cul-
lngs-or 'cullens," as the dredgers call them
and then by strange irony of commercial CHI
canery the cheapest of all oysters are placed
before the watering mouths Of mankind at the
highest inquire which is placed upon bivalves.
Ihls deception Is made possible by popular
faliacy OF long standing whereby folks believe
tnat the Blue Point oyster is the smallest of his
KIND. This unaccountable delusion permits
the interruptions dealer-and by dealer mean
the wholesale seller. for the restaurateur is fire.
quently hoodwinked as we'll as his customers
TO hnd an exorbltantly remunerative sale for the
small, refuse oysters which the sorters cast
aside III separating cargo Of oysters into their
various Sizes
THE ORIGINAL BLUE POINTS.
1t Will surprise nearly every one to be told
that originally the Blue Point oysters were of
monstrous size and il was the emptied shell of
one OF these OF natural growth which suggested
to the late George Arnold his delightfully."-
amusing poem of The OYSTER" which .bivai-
vular hermit" arose upon its edge and swal-
lowed the good ship Emily" and all its crew.
Natural decadence has lessened the size of the
Blue Point but not to the extent people have
been taught to believe. 1t may not be gener-
ally known that some years ago Uncle Sam
thought this subject was worth investigation
and he employed Ernest Ingersoll to perform
the task. The result of his labors is told in
one OF the volumes OF the tenth census of the
United States, wherein is published an exhaus-
tive treatise on The Oyster Industry" Refer
ring to what he termed the '.Brookhaven Bay
or Blue Point OYSTER" he says: 1.-THE natural
growth OF the oyster in the great South
pay Is confined almost wholly between
Smiths point and Fire Island-practically to
the waters east of Blue Point, known as Brook
haven bay. This was the home Uf the famous
celebrity, the Blue Point oyster, which was
among the earliest to come to New York mar
kets. The present oyster Of this brand is small
and round, but the old Blue Points cherished
by the Dutch burghers and peak-hatted sons
OF the Hamptons. who toasted the king long
before our revolution was thought of, was of
the large, crooked, heavy-shelled. elongated
kind with which one becomes familiar all along
the coast in examining relics of the natural
beds and which are even now to be found by
the thousand in all the mussel lagoons of the
gulf of st. Lawrence. Now and then a few
years ago. one Of these aboriginal oysters, of
which two dozen make a sufficient armful
was dragged up and excited the curiosity of
every one. but the time has gone by when any
q.
In 1858 the New York Herald reported that
the value of ali the Blue Point oysters, by
which name the great South bay oysters were
generally meant. did not exceed yearly 5000
600. They are sold for an average of ten shil-
lngs (S1.25) hundred from the beds but as
they are scarce and have good reputation
they sell at considerable advance upon this
price when brought to market. At one period
when they might be regarded as in their prime
they attained remarkable size. but now their
proportions as well as their numbers have been
greatly reduced. There are about two hum
dred persons engaged in the business includ-
ing the proprietors and the hands employed in
working the BEDS"
ALONG LONG ISLAND SHORE,
Mind you, that was thirty-six years ago,
Mr.. Ingersoll in the same treatise, speaking of
the home of the Blue Point as he found it, says:
"All along the shore of Long Island between
the outer fence Of the rigid and pitiless surf
repelling beach and the habitable shore lie
series OF shallow lagoons. The largest of these
wide-is the Great South bay. This water is
the salvation Of all southern Long Island, II
the land ran straight to the sea and Fire
Island was not an island, but simply a shore.
the whole great extent would be as uninhabit-
able as the bleak rear Of Cape Cod all the way
from Prospect park to Moriches. But the bay
furnishes an abundance Of harbors; it abounds
in fish profitable to catch; it tempts the ducks
to its sedgy shore and so invites an annual mi
grafton OF money-spending sportsmen; it is
paved with the luscious slammes and crabfsh'
which the old Dutch poet extolled, and fur
nishes to the world that marvel of delicscies
the oyster. Hence in place Of pine-barren and
bowling, friendless coast, we find string of
populous and thriving villages. the winter
Ravens OF Thousands Of mariners and the sum.
mer resort Of city pleasure seekers, This
shallow spVnd communicates with the ocean
through Fire Island inlet and a few more open.
ings to the westward. The eastern part COM
municates through narrow path at Smiths
point with East bay, which has no communi-
cation with the sea and is almost fresh. The
depth Of water in the bay does not exceed ten
fathoms in the deepest part and the rise and
fall OF the tide are very small, probably not
more than foot at the average The bay re-
ceives considerable supplies Of fresh water
from number of streams celebrated for their
fine trout. The western part of the bay has a
| sandy bottom, aud its water, being in more di-
rect communication with the ocean, contains
more salt than that of the eastern part, where
the bottom is q mixture Of black mud with
sand"
At the present time the Blue Point has its
bed in more circumscribed limits than Mr.. In
gersoI describes First let me explain that
geographically Blue Point is a ANAL promon-
tory of Long Island reaching into the Great
South bay. Whether it gets its name from the
famous oyster or whether the process of no.
menclature has been the reverse of that am
unable to say. The under shell of the oyster
Of which l am writing has a number of small
spinous-like protuberances, the points of which
al co1orad III e