The evening times., 1899-09-02
ADVENT OF THE OYSTER.
The SEASON Opca. With q PrOnais'
of Big Crop.

The SEASON Opca. With a Promise
Of Bix Crop.
Barring the warm weather, yesterday was
a particularly propitious day for the oyster
man, for not only was it the first day OF
September when the letter "R'' is sup
posed to WELD magic influence over the
oyster and his yotaries. but it was also Fri
day. when hundreds of people will not
touch anything in the meat line, SO despite
the sickness of the asphalt street and the
rays of the blazing sun. the oysterman was
happy. He was kept busy waiting OF Gus
toners and answering the telephone nine
tenths of the calls over which were for
oysters.
I'VE haveasold four times as many oys
ters today as we have since the last day
Of April" said a big wholesaler, "and the
prospects for big season are unusually
bright. We have had dozen planters,
as the oyster-raisers are called. in the store
in the past week and they all say that in
spite of the cold weather last winter Wash
ington will have a big crop of oysters and
unusually fine ones, too. The many rains
have fattened the oysters. and they spawn
ed unusually early and are in as good shape
as they usually are in November. Look
at this fellow and the oysterman picked
up big rough-shelled oyster and opened
it with knife. "See how clear it is and
how fat; 1t fills the whole shell. Now look
at this one,'' and he opened half-dozen
before he found one that he wanted. See
that white, milky fluid, well this oyster
has not finished spawning long and is not
in good shape, though as rule this early
In the season you will End most Of the oys-
tiers with that fluid in them. 1t is not
harmful, but 1t makes the oyster fiat.
Most OF our local oysters come from
around Norfolk, Old Point Comfort, and
the Potomac River. but there are some
bluepoints and Rockaways from up around
New York which are In demand here
Washington Is the greatest oyster town in
the country. not excepting New York and
Baltimore. There are more oysters con-
sumed in Washington per capita than In
any other city. This Is accounted for by
the cheapness of the oyster, which can be
had in Washington the year around at 25
cents quart. That is cheaper than you
can buy them In other cities; then the
floating population in Washington con-
sumo lots of oysters. There are at least
400 barrels of oysters sold here daily dur
ing the season, and when you average 500
| oysters to a barrel you have 100000 oys-
tiers a day The oyster is funny fellow;
he likes cold weather and unless he is
kept on ice or in very cool place he soon
gives up and dies. but you can Keep them
in a cold cellar for several weeks, and he
not only lives but improves. We fire.
Quentiy get a lot of oysters which are not
fat and then We proceed to fatteen them
by placing them in a cold cellar and dash
ing salt water over them. They open their
shells. drink, and get fat: throw fresh
water over them and they get thin. The
oyster is dead one the minute you open
his shell. He may open ii himself as often
as he wants to- but let the sharp edge of
the knife penetrate and that's the end OF
him."
While the season opened yesterday and
there was a good supply in the market,
inquiry among the dealers at the market
showed that there was not an over-supply
of oysters on sale Several OF the dealers,
in fact, who sent their barrels down TO the
plantation" got no oysters by the boats,
presumably on account of tie unusually
warm weather, but on the whole the open
ing was better than for several years pre-
vious, and by September 15 the season will
be in full sway.
The oyster men were not the only busy
people in the market yesterday, as the
game dealers had their hands full i'll hand
ling the plover. jack snipe, ortolans. and
ducks that came in.
| of gunners in search of the little yellow
| breasted fellows were greatly augmented
| by the sportsmen who scorn the diminutiye
reed bird and go after the wary jack snipe
and plover. Over near Hunting Creek,
-Four Mile Run" Long Bridge. and down
by the Navy Yard the guns of the hunters
kept up continuous roar for an hour or
two after sunrise and was resumed in the
afternoon an hour before sunset, and hun
a alc ofl IF nj
birds, and not a few blue-wing teal ducks,
fell.
Like the oyster, the reed bird and plover
have fattened early and are unusually
plentiful; the wild oats crop is abundant
and ripened earlier than usual and the reed
birds are so fat they can hardly fly. They
are being brought in by the hundreds of
dozens to the market. and the prices range
from 80 to 40 cents for each little bundle
of twelve One sun-b burnt boy of twelve.
who said he .crawfshed' for living
while his pop" went cunning for reed
birds, brought in basket with eight doZ-
en- cleaniy picked birds which he said his
pop had killed this morning and that he
had had bad luck or he would have had a
bigger bag He also carried a half dozen
plover all Of which were taken by the
market man and the youngster went away
with about 50 in silver tied up in his soled
handkerchief.
There were many kilograms received by
the game dealers from surrounding cities
ordering plovers and barrels of this popu-
| lar bird, packed in ice, were shipped away.
First piece Of ice two feet and half long
is placed in the centre of the barrel and
then the plover wrapper in paper are plac-
ed down around this column of ice; then a
layer of cracked ice and another layer of
plover until the barrel is filled. One bar
rel will hold thirty dozen and When well