Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-05

shrimps and fish packed along this
coast every winter-more oysters, 1 am told,
than at Baltimore, Norfolk and all the
other northern cities combined. The larg
est packers are Baltimore people, who
bring down their employees from that city,
lodge them and feed them and take them
back again at the end of the season. Some
of the employees, however, are buying places
and settling here, and the oystermen are
preparing to use their canneries during the
summer season for packing tomatoes,
peaches, berries and other vegetables and
fruit In 1904 the oyster output from Mo-
bile amounted to $4,000. At the close of
the oyster season the same people pack
shrimps, putting them up in cans lined
with paper. because a shrimp will turn
black If it touches thin. A few CLAIMS are
packed also
The oyster beds belong to the state and
there are laws governing the fisheries, linn
iting the dates of dredging, prescribing the
TOOLS that may be used and fixing other
rules for the protection of the industry.
About $50 boats are engaged in the oyster
trade, which handled by three or four
men each and bring in boatload of oys-
tiers every twenty-four hours, for which
they are paid at the rate of 40 cents bar
rel. The men make an average of about "a
day, but they complain that this is
poor year. There has been so much rain
that the bays have been flooded with fresh
water, which has spoiled the flavor of the
oysters and has killed the conchs, whose
dead bodies emit poison which kills all
living things in the neighborhood.
The conch is the natural enemy of the
oyster. There is an eternal duel going on
between them. The conch, which looks like
exaggerated snail, fastens itself to the
oyster and drills a hole through it's she'll
Mussels and barnacles grow with great
rapidty around the shells and often seal
them up so that the oyster suffocates or
starves to death. A study of the natural
history of the oyster teaches us that even
the humblest and most innocent and inof
fensive of Gods creatures have their enc
mics and suffer injustice.
The Oyster Canneries.
The canneries are located at the ends of
the long piers, reaching out from the shore
into navigable water. The oyster boats go
alongside and the dredgers shovel their
cargoes into skeleton trucks or cars. made
of steel rods or bands. When the trucks
are filled they run along a tramway
into a steam chest, the heat is turned on
for eight or ten minutes, and then you
have steamed oysters by the carload. The
trucks are then pushed up beside benches
where men and women, boys and girls, of
all sizes and ages, open the shells and drop
the oysters into buckets which, when filled,
emptied into watts of cold sea water,
where the men stir them until they are
thoroughly washed and are free from sand
and all other foreign substances. Then
they are put into tins of different sizes,
little hot salt water is added to freshen
them, the lids are sealed on, and the tins
are labeled Cove Oysters from Baltimore.
Maryland"
The first canning was done down here
before the war, but 1t was not until few
years ago that the business had anything
more than local Importance. Now the
chief supply of fresh oysters for the south
ern market and the northern supply of
canned oysters come from this locality.
Interference Resented.
The oyster fisheries In Louisiana are al
most as extensive and important as those
of Baltimore or Norfolk and are controlled
by gang of desperate men, mostly for
eigners, who will not permit newcomers to
engage in the business or interfere in what
they consider their hereditary rights. These
men not only control the fisheries. but also
the markets in town. They are mostly Aus
TRANS and Italians from the coast of the
Adriatic sea and are called "tackoes,"
From time to time when necessary they re-
cruit their numbers by sending for rela-
tives in the old country, but the business
has been hereditary for generations and
has descended from father to son in the
same family. Outsiders are never allowed
to come into the trade. At the beginning
of the planting season the master fisher
man transports many boatloads of seed
oysters from Sheir natural beds to the
neighborhood ON Ia cabin where he makes
his headquartersSl The transplanted oys-
tiers thrive and grow rapidly upon the low