The evening times., 1899-08-18
THE OYSTER NEARLY DUE
The Succulent Bivalye Will Be
Plentiful Next Month.
Dealers Say They Look for n Much
Larger supply This Year Than
Ever Before-in Enormous Annual
Uptake-WorI< and Care That Is
Necessary in Their Cultivation.

There Will be an R in next month";
said Centre Market oyster dealer this
morning, "and the luscious bivaive,' as
the cook, the caterer and the gourmet
love TO call it, will be in season once more
The great producing centre for oysters is
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and
you would be eastopished did you know
what the annual uptake of oysters is Mind
you, oysters are gathered along the whole
Portland, Me-, to Galveston, Tex
as, but, so to speak, We are
in the thick of it. The annual traffic in
oysters in. this country has been be-
tween 15,000,000 and 10000, 900 bushels for
ten years past, and We look to very
much larger supply this year than ever
before, besides a much larger demand.
we now send larger quantities out to
the West, which is something We did not
formerly do, But our methods Of packing
are so improved and the introduction of
artificial refrigeration has made ii posi-
BILE for us to send oysters as far West as
Denver and further, which, when they are
opened, prove as fresh and as palatable
as any you can get here. And To-Day we
send many thousands of barrels of oysters
in the shell, and more tubs of shelled
oysters, to towns and cities all over the
surrounding States.
The work of caring for the oyster is
very important for nowadays very few are
marketed from their natural beds, all or
most of them having been, at one time or
another, transplanted from the natural
rocks to other locations. The transplanting
gives the oyster a better chance to grow,
and under favorable conditions it attains
marketable size two, or even three years
earlier than if undisturbed. After trans
planting, which is done in the spring. the
beds are gone over at intervals, and ref
use, such as sea cabbage, oyster fungi and
eei-grass, deposited there by the tides, is
removed
Oysters are attacked by number of
different parasites and great care is need
ed, not only to keep these enemies away
but to destroy their eggs. Among the
worst of these foes is the 'drill,' a small
crustacean, who is supplied with tiny
rasp or file, with which it bores into the
young oyster and sucks out the contents
of the she'll The eggs are something like
apple or pear seeds, and are found in
heaps or bunches. Each egg contains from
twenty to thirty embryos. AS soon as they
are Matched and destroy innumerable
quantities. The oyster barnacle is another
deadly foe. This little creature gets in
side the shell of the oyster, and fastening
on to- the upper valve breeds there and
feeds upon the oyster itself Then there
are oyster tube worms, which make their
tubes of sand and lime lie upon the oyster
until they become firmly fixed to his outer
shell, then bore their way through and feed
upon him.
None of these parasites are found in
oysters tha. are offered for sale, simply
because such oysters are at once discard
ed. But there is parasite which itself
is considered great delicacy-the oyste:'
crab. This tiny little fellow is really an
assistance to the oyster in hep ping it to
obtain food. The only way to get rid OF
the Objectionable parasites of which |
have spoken is by care and cleanliness:
by flushing and carefully draining and go
ing over the beds they can be almost en-
tirely eliminated, but the destruction O.
the eggs is the surest way, and this meth
cd is nowadays carried out with consider
able success.
Rarely have the prospects for a large
crop OF oysters been better than ROW. The
season has been usually propitio IS.
There seems to have been no serious dis
turbance either by the elements or by
predatory enemies, and dealers gene ally
look forward to large and fat supp
Orders from the West are coming in, an /
expect we shall have our hands full
and need all the oysters we can get.'