The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-09-12
A GOOD OYSTER YEAR
THE DELICIOUS BlVALVES ARE ONCE
MORE IN FAVOR.

New York Consumes More Oysters Than
| Any Other American City-CrOp Exceed
ingly Large and the Demand Brisk.
The superstition, more widespread
than any other known in this country,
that oysters are good only in the months
which sport an r has kept the bivalves
under the ban for four full months, and
the public appetite for these delicacies
is whetted. Every hotel and restaurant
bill of fare now bristles with oysters
and all the street stands hang out large
signs in which the letter r is made to
do duty as verb. The season, which
will last until next May, came in with
a rush.
Those who should know say that New
York eats more and better oysters than
any other city in the country. Between
4, 900 and 5000 bushels day, running
$50 oysters to the bushel, is the regular
quantity. These are mostly the high
| grade oysters. Those that aren't quite
so good are shipped to the west. For
time this shipment will reach 10000
bushels per day, but within six weeks
or two months the western appetite
will be satiated to such an extent that
it will demand only $1,000 bushels for
its daily food. Besides this, 5000 bar
rels of bivalves will go abroad every
week, mostly to England.
Formerly American oysters were not
regarded with enthusiasm by English
men. The first shipload sent over fell
into the hands of the health authorities.
The health authorities sat in solemn
conclave upon those oysters and con-
demned them to be returned to the deep
whence they came. So they were thrown
overheard. More shiploads came, some
of which got past the health authorities
and into the hotels and restaurants,
achieving such an instant and general
popularity that there was a strenuous
demand for the American shellfsh
which has endured ever since.
To dredge the oysters, transport them,
open them, pack them for shipment
and distribute them gives employment
to something like 25, 900 men in and
about New York and in proportionate
ratio in most of the other cities on the
II OAdAAUAO oCtbOOhIos OO1LO AQ6A VI b1lO
magnitude of the work can be obtained
from the size of the fleet of scows and
oyster sloops, loaded to the fullest Ca
pacity, which arrives early in the morn
| ing at all the available piers. Nearly
all the bivalves sent to the west from
New York are first opened and packed.
good opener can pry out about 6, 800
oysters by hard days work, and, as
he gets 81 thousand, he Is pretty
we'll paid laborer. The record for ten
hours shocking is $500 oysters. After
being opened the bivalves are washed
and packed in ice Under ordinary con-
ditions they will keep eatable for a
week. Every day after the opening,
however, they lose little in favor,
until about the seventh day, when they
begin to gain in flavor, quite undesir-
ably.
That is one reason why New York
oysters are considered superior to those
in other cities, except, perhaps, Phila-
| delphia and Baltimore. We get them
fresher from the BEDS Moreover, New
York pays the highest prices and has
more oyster connoisseurs than other
| cities
All down Long Island the oyster
grows in prOfusion under the fostering
care of the state fish commission, part
| of whose duties it is to supervise the
oyster beds and see that they are prop
erly kept up. The bottom of Great
South bay is paved with the sucoulent
Oak Islands and Rockaways and the
delicate Blue Points, and on the north
shore of Long Island at Huntington
Bay, Oyster Bay, Cold Spring Harbor
and Glen Cove flourish the East river
oysters. These are planted $50 bushels
| to the acre, and in three years they
! yield about 2, 200 bushels. The oysters
chief enemies are the starfsh; who seize
them in a pentagonal embrace and
slowly devour them, and the borer, a
| highly Objectionable form of shellfish
which bores through the oyster she'll
with its gimletlike point and destroys
the inhabitant To keep the oyster beds
as free as possible of these two pests is
the principal problem of the oyster bust
ness
''This is going to be a good oyster
! year, said one of the big Fulton mar
ket dealers recently. 'There is good
crop, and the trade has started in brisk
| ly. AS yet the oyster is not quite at his
best flavor. Being so far out of the
world, you see, he doesn't realize that
the month with the r has come again,
and so he really hasn't got into his best
condition yet, but he gives promise of
first rate flavor. and with the first of
the cold weather he will be as excellent
as ever. This years trade will be more
than ever in local oysters. There will
be fewer in proportion from Buzzards
bay and Chesapeake bay than in former
years. A considerable importation of
Lynnhavens from Virginia is expected.
There are large, high priced oysters,
bringing $40 thousand.
1.-THE Blue Points are probably the
most popular, chiefly because they are
the best known. They are the favorites
for serving raw, while the larger kinds,
such as the Rockaways, are chiefly used
for fries, scallops or soup. The Rock
Always and Blue Points give promise of
exceptionally fine flavor this year. :"