The record-union., 1898-01-03
OUR FRIEND The OYSTER.
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE
SUCCULENT BIVALVE.
How the Oystermen Plant and
Raise Them-Some Tricks
Of the Business.

would Stand chance OF DeinS uSdiiy
anything in the oyster category from
'half-shell' served with trimmings
to some plutocrat, to a six-inch dish
rag sort of bivalve who goes slash
ing about the country in tin until
consumed by some oyster supper
community or swallowed whole by
1 some far inland rustic who lmaglneS
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. II in youth,
he is served in state on the half shell.
If later, he goes in the soup II
few months later, he is fried or steam
ed But if he escapes the rake until
a matured age his fate is bulk or
'stin'' and his destiny obscure.
There is no phase which belongs ex-
clusiyely to oysters which means as
much and as little as the two words
Blue Point" 1t means nothing to oys-
ter dea,ers-much to consumers. There
was q time when the half shell oys-
ters were larger than now. The change
from the moderate sized oyster to the
smallest to be had came With the name
blue Point The original Blue Point
oystars-an oyster grown off Blue
Point, Long Island, was an innovation.
1t was smaller, more tender, and more
easily eaten, as far as handling goes.
Thus it became popular and the name
something to conjure with. For time
and to-day, in fact, Blue Point Sug-
gests the best oyster obtainable. But
to-day a genuine Blue Point oyster
is as rare as justice. The name, how
ever, still stays, and as only perhaps
one person in ten thousand can dis
tinguiSh the genuine by the flavor the
oyster world is quite safe in retaining
it. The people, whom our own Barnum
declared loved to be humbugged, go on
paying fancy price for the name
Blue Point and eating oysters from
Connecticut, 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
distinguish a Plymouth Rock hens egg
when fried from that of any other hen
you have a chance of recognizing a
Blue Point.
Nothing, or very little at least, can
| be learned from the she'll Oyster
growers control to a large degree the
shape of the oyster shell. 1t is all a
Wv
thickly they are crowded and assume
cramped shapes, but if care is taken
and they are given room they grow
round and shapely. There are but a
few varieties in which the natural
shape Of the shell will expose the fraud
| if it is claimed to be a Blue Point Oys-
ters furthermore are distinguished by
the top SHE'LL the peculiar marking tell
irac% ta ,so1.
| The under shell, which is smaller, fiat
ter and smoother, tells little Thus, as
! oysters are served on the lower shell
/ again the consumer is forced to take
| the oyster as he finds it and believe
| 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
| she'll There is one exception, how
| ever; tie ''condalu" half shell oyster
| can be distinguished instantly, but as
| there are but few of them g-rown-the
variety being very rare-and those
which are grown seldom If ever reach
anything but a private club or fam
| lily trade, they do not figure in the oys-
| ters used by the general public.
| Oystermen-the old-time, regulation
| oystermen-have a few hereditary hab-
| it's which remind one of the headlong
| course of the drumfish. Way back in
] the early oyster days, long before the
| Oldest Of the present generation were
! born, Tor some mysterious reason oys-
termen transplanted their oysters. That
| is, they took them from the ground
on which they We're originally planted
/ and moved them to another locality.
This requires the same amount of labor
| as getting them to market. Why il
! was done no one knows, and for that
| reason it 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 bet
ter, the old heads refuse to follow the
example. In fact, they hardly speak
to this new creature, who does not fol-
| low all the old legends, and think him
| their enemy.
1t may sound odd to speak of drink
| ing oysters. One would assume thai,
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 sim
ply a matter of fattenflng. or to he
more truthful, initiating.
! When oysters are raised" Italxen
from the beds to the air) they are
dumped aboard of the sloops and when
a load is obtained the sloop sails for
some fresh water stream At the mouth
/ of these streams are floats into which
| the oysters are dumped ct full tide. AS
| the tide ebbs, and the fresh water
/ from the stream gradually freshens the
water in the floats, the oyster opens
He appears to be drinking, but instead
| is simply allowing the fresh water to
wash out the salt. When this is COM
! pleted 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 a reason for alwavs
serving the oyster on the lower she'll
The top shell IS concave and the lower
enc, besides being about a third small
er. IS flat Therefore, when the oyster.
which fills the larger shell is laid upon
the fiat lower shell he assumes alder
manic proportions.
Oyster spawn resembles the scales
Of small fish more than anything else.
They have life when no larger than a
tack head and at once fasten ia 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 rfAtectiar, they facfas,