Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-09-30
OYSTER AND FISH NOTES,

Is at the Baltimore Marine Railway,
Engine aud Boiler works for new
propeller.
The "catch" Of oysters thus far is
excellent, and the present season
promises TO be a successful one for
the. tongers. Prices are quite nigh
for this early in the season-rangiL Q
from 40 to so cents per bushel.
The humble, mum and delicious
oyster has been charged by some
with transmitting typhoid fever, and
Prof. Alfred Giard, in the name of
the sea fishery commission appointed
by the Secretary of the Navy, has
come to the rescue of the bivalve
and clears the oyster of all charges.
He expressly declares that they are
eatable at all seasons and cannot
transmit any disease to human beings.
1t is common saying hereabou Is,
and generally accepted, that to cut a
sea-nettle into pieces means Just that
many sea-nettles added to the living
family. Whether true or not, the
New York Press vouches for the fol-
lowing about starfish:
ga few years ago." said Long
Island oyster planter, "one of the
planters here made big mistake that
nearly cost him his whole years oys-
ter crop. Ycu know, l suppose, that
the worst enemy of the oysters is the
starfish. We catch them with an in
strument called tangle in great
quantities and pile them up ashore,
where the sun soon kills them. But
that, as you may imagine, is not an
operation calculated to make the
neighborhood of the place very fra
grant, for the star has fearful odor
after he dies. Now, this planter of
whom / am speaking had q plan to
avoid all this. He took one of his
men off with an Ak, and as fast as
the boats brought in load of star
fish the ak was piled, and the pieces
were then dumped overheard. He
rubbed his hands over his good idea,
but he wasn't so pleased a month or
80 afterward when the starfish began
to devour his oysters again, and inves-
tigation with dredge and tangle
showed that that there were more of
them than ever on his beds. About
this time an expert from the fish
commission came shopping around
for curiosities, and he heard of course,
about the stars. He began to laugh.
'All that you succeeded in doing,
said he to the oyster planter, swhen
you chopped up the starfsh was to
increase them. Don't you know that
startish can be cut into as many as
six pieces and still not only survive
but form new starfish from almost
every piece%"
1t is pointed out by the Baltimore
american that as the Chesapeake oys.
ter crop has grown annually less, the
general demand has grown annually
larger. MoraIiziug over this gloomy
bit of intelligence, our contemporary
proceeds to remark that "the oyster
appetite prevails from the ALE.
ghanies to the Rockies, and the great
interior has in the past looked TO the
Chesapeake Bay to meet the demand
toi the savory mOliusk. But in recent
years this general demand has been
supplied largely from the bayous and
estuaries of the Gulf coast. The in.
lets from the Long Island Sound and
those that indent the coast of New
jersey are also producing an output
of high grade oysters that is increas-
ing constantly from a careful and
intelligent system of artificial culture.
Many of these Northern beds are
supplied with young oysters from the
lower Chesapeake, especially from
Virginia waters. Original propaga-
ton has been adopted in many of the
northern waters where the natural
supply has become almost extinct.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
oyster product has been increased
vastly lin other sections by artificial
breeding, the present price of the oys-
ter is double that which prevailed a
generation back. 1t is to be feared
that the oyster may in time become
a high-price dainty instead of gen.
eral article of diet"