The times., 1898-12-27

ern oyste,man may be said to know every
oyster in his farm OF even those por-
tions always under water he is complete
master. The acres that are coverel by
waves have no secrets from him, and un-
erringly he can guide his ship to any point
and tong up crop that has lain there
for months or perhaps n year.
He must see to 1.-THE oysterman CT
modern times-that his supplies are kept
well ahead. The fashionable oyster needs
year to grow from the seed oyster to
its proper size. Yet other oysters must
remain on the beds two years. All tn S
time they must be carefully protected
The beds are replenished in April. May
and June-that is, the little seed oysters
are planted tken. They lie in sha low
water through the Summer and the eatly
Fall. With the approach of Winter, lest
they freeze. all must be transp!anted-put
into deeper water
A simple operation this seems. But 1t
must be remembered that the oysterman
who has a farm worthy of mention has
on his beds. scores of colonies, each of
which needs especial attention. Then,
too, he who grows the fashionable oyster
has special orders come to him each day
for this, and for that. He must know his
stock and each inch of his grounds.
A skin rocks idly on the waters. One
man is steadying 1t; another, with pair
of iron tongs skillfully worked is bring
ing oysters forth from their lairs. He
swings his tongs down, and an instant
later raises them. oysters and weeds in
n medley respond to the haul. The prize
is dumped into the boats bottom.
load, and the sRiff is pulled away. s-me
rods farther on. to spot where the oys-
tiers are tumbled overheard.
Back and forth to the sloop DOES the
skiff go with its basketfuis to meet that
days orders. Three bushel baskets make
"A barrel. 1t may be that twenty barrels
are to be shipped the next morniEg
Sixty to seventy basketfu,s are at
events no extraordinary load for sloop
like this One hundred and over even
may be put aboard.
Before these are put aboard the sloop.
however. they are washed. The home load
of the careful oysterman is clean. With
his rakes he gathers for his needs and
gets each basketfui aboard the skiff In
the channel. One would now think he
was to transplant, for the skiff moves to
deeper water and overheard every oyster
goes. 1t is for but moment, however.
The iron tongs, almost as tail as a man.
are again called into play. Two men WELD
two pairs. Up come the oysters. now
fresh and clean. The weeds and mud that
formerly clung to the shells, and made
the load an unsightly mass. are now re-
moved. and the oysters fairly glisten as
the sktff is poled toward the sloop.
In such manner is the oyster de luxe
taken from his bed. How he comes there
is yet another tale. 1t is one of the Curl
Gus facts of oystering that oyster breed
ing and oyster planting are two distinct
trades. The oysterman proper buys his
oyster half grown. as it were. For the
oystermen of this region the headquarters
for these seed oysters tthe oysters that
are planted is the Connecticut shore in
the vicinity of New Haven Here one
hears talk of oysters by the hundred thou
sand. not at all a remarkable thing when
1t is considered that single oyster will
lay million eggs in the spawning season.
OF course but small proportion OF these
eggs ever become even small-sized oys-
tiers. but these figures at least hint at
numbers that are vast.
The oyster breeders about New Haven
simply plant oyster shells at favorable
place and wait one or two years. The
spawn in these oyster waters clings TO
these shells-that Is. n fraction of IL does
That which gains a good foothold grows
into oysters. This industry is vaster than
most people would believe. one planter
putting into the water half million
bushels Of shells one season.
oyster breeders sell these little oysters
when they have reached the age of two
years. The planters pay 70 cents a bushel
| for them, there being 3,C0o to 4,0o0 in a
| bushel. presumably; actually much less
than that. This is equivalent to s2.25 Il
barrel. Five dollars "A barrel-a barrel
containing ZOO to $500 oysters of the
! fashionable variety-is the average price
! the planters get, not such a large mar
| gin of profit, when is considered the care
| that must be bestowed upon these seed
| oysters for at least a year and the num-
Der that are lost irretrievably.
| Sunset sees the sloop at the dock and a
new page in the history OF the oyster of
| the CONNIE il faut dinner table commences
at the float" Properly speaking, every
| oyster gathered out of salt water should
be allowed to drink for at least a
| night-that is, he must be thrown into a
| fresh-water tank How an oyster
drinks" science has never explained
| and the oystermen thmselves do not
| know. But ii is undeniable that he does
drink, and extensively in proportion
| to his size, for the oyster that has been
given this bath has a totally different
! flavor from one which has not the
slightly acrid, pungent taste being re-
placed by sweet, fresh one.
| Barreied and sent by fast freight or
| express as befits an oyster of the upper
class, these fashionable oysters are ship
ped direct to the market in New York, OF
| dispatched out West by rail- These are
| the aristocrats of the trade. The oysters
one sees arriving in open oyster boats at
the foot of Perry Street-a wonderful dis
play, indeed-are the hoi polloi of oyster
/ dom, 1t is only the oysters on which So
| ciety has set her seal of approval that
| travel in the way described above
| Once in New York the fashionable oys-
| ter is basketed again. or perhaps barreed
| once more for local use. The interior OF
| one of the boats" the floating houses Oh
| the North River. where buyers and sellers
come together is a strange scene. On low
stools expert oyster handlers sit, sorting
| opening for the Western trade. for points
TO the South and North. Besides this there
is the question of export. this trade hay.
ing grown beyond all anticipations.
Between September 1 and March l ar
average OF 1000 barrels week is exported
| to Liverpool. the chief port of receipt Al
times much greater quantities go over
| Last March, for example, saw lo.000 bar
rels exported. These oysters are trans
planted in English waters, grow wei
there. and sell for good price.
There are some interesting bivalve fact:
| that we who eat these shellfsh shoult
know briefly. First of all. the price ha:
dropped enormously in the past fifteer
years. Nowadays oysters cost, roughly
about third of cent each. Fifteel
years ago their price was not far from
cents apiece. Then the Treble y Saddl
Rocks cost $50 thousand, the Xxx $50
and the y $3.50 New Box oysters Ches.
titles corresponding to the old) bring onl,
so the thousand. half shells S.: and cul
leens si.51. II is only the planters of tn
oyster that is fashionable that continue I,
make money.
Blue Points is still a name to conjur
with. But Blue Points no longer signi
iies definite locality. as it did years age