The Portland daily press., 1897-11-06

Had you been born an oyster you would
stand a chance of being nearly anything in
the oyster category, from a ''half shell, !"
served with trimmings to some plutocrat
to six inch dishrag sort of bivalve who
goes slashing about the country in "tin"
until consumed by some ''oyster supper"
community or swallowed whole by some
far inland rustic who imagines the eating
of raw oysters to be but modified form
of sword swallowing. 1t is all a matter OF
when and at what age an oyster is caught
If in his youth, he is served in state on
the half shell. If later, he goes in the soup
steamed. But IL he escapes the rake until
matured age his fate is bulk" or "tin"
and his destiny obscure
There is no phrase which belongs ex-
ciusively to oysters which means as much
ana as little as the two words blue
roints 1t means nothing to oyster deal
ers-much to consumers. There was
clme when the half shell oysters were lar
ger IMAM now. The change from the mod
crate sized oyster to the smallest to be had
came with the name Blue Point The
original Blue Point UPSTREAM oyster
grown OH Blue Point, n was an in
novatlon 1t was smaller, more tender
and more easily eaten as far as handling
goes thus it became popular and the
name something to oonjure with. For a
Time and today, In fact, Blue Point sug-
gests the best oyster obtainable. But to-
DAY genuine Blue Point oyster is as rare
as Justice The name, however still stays,
ana as only perhaps one person In ten
thousand can distinguish the genuine by
the flavor, the oyster world is quite safe in
retaining it. The people who, our own
Barnum declared, love to be humbugged
go on paying fancy price for the name
Blue Point and eating oysters from Con-
nectiout, New Jersey, Great South bay,
Staten Island sound, and, to save the
curse, an occasional one or perhaps two
from off Blue Point. If you can distin-
guish Plymouth Rock hem 8 egg, when
tried, from that OF any other hen, you have
chance of recognizing a Blue Point.
Nothing or, very little at least can be
learned from the shell. Oyster growers
control to large degree the shape of the
oyster shell. 1t lis all matter Of how they
are planted. II too thickly, they are crowd
60 ana assume cramped shapes, but il car.
Is taken and they are given room they
grow round and shHpely. There are but
few varieties In which the natural shape
OF the shell viii expose the fraud if it is
claimed to be Blue Point Oysters, furth-
ermore, are distinguished by the top shell,
the peculiar marking telling the locality
from which they come. The undershell,
which is smaller, fatter and smoother,
tells little; thus as oysters are served on the
or i'm, ftn t., g.. 4
to take the oyster as he finds it and be-
lieves it is Blue Point After all there
IS no harm in the deception, as there is
but little If any difference in oysters at
the age when served on the half shell.
There is one exception, however. The
"condalu' half shell oyster can be distin-
guished instantly, but as there are but few
OF them grown-the variety being very
rare-those which are grown seldom if
ever reach anything but private club or
family trade, they. do not figure in the
oysters used by the general public.
Oystermen-the old time, regulation
oystermen-have a few hereditary habits
which remind one of the headlong course
of the drumflsh. Way back in the early
oyster days, long before the Oldest of the
present generation were born, for some
mysterious reason oystermen transp1anted
their oysters-that is, they took them from
the ground on which they were originally
planted and moved them to another local
ity. This requires the same amount of
labor as getting them to market. Why it
was done no one knows and for that rea-
son 1T is still done. One or two of the more
thinking have, in spite of the scowls and
dire predictions of their brothers of the
craft, discontinued the transplanting Of
oysters, but in spite of the fact that the
oysters thrive better the old heads refuse
to follow the example. In fact, they
hardly speak to this new creature, who
does not follow all the old legends and
think him their enemy.
1t may sound odd to speak of "drink-
ing" oysters. One would assume their
opportunity to quench their thirst was
fairly good, but oysters must be "drinked, +"
drank" or 'watered AS oystermen say
before they are fit for market. The
drinking" process is simply matter Of
fattening, or, to be more truthful, inflat-
ing.
When oysters are raised" (taken from
the beds to the air), they are dumped
aboard OF the sloops, and when load is
OUbdlueu 0Do SiOOp sails IOT some ITe6n Wa
ter stream. At the mouth of these streams
are floats, into which the oysters are
dumped at full tide. AS the tide Gibbs an
the fresh water from the stream gradually
freshens the water in the floats, the oyster
opens He appears to be drinking, but in
stead is simply allowing the fresh water to
wash out the salt. When this is completed,
the oyster closes. The fresh water causes
it to swell, sometimes till the shell gapes
open. Thus the oyster becomes plump,
and when opened looks fat and fit
OF course there is reason for always
serving the oyster on the lower shell. The
top shell is concave, and the lower one,
besides being about third smaller, is fat.
therefore, when the oyster, which fills the
larger shell, is laid upon the fiat lower
Shell he assumes aldermanic proportions.
Oyster spawn resembles the scales OF
small fish more than anything else. They
have life when no larger than tack head,
and at once fasten to the nearest oyster
shell. There they stay until by their
growth, which at an early age is rapid
they force each other loose. Then for pro-
lection they fasten to each other, and it IS
in this form Of odd shaped punches OF fiat
oysters no larger than nickel they are