Evening journal., 1908-08-26
OYSTER SEASON
OPENS SEPT.
Maryland TOngerS Getting
Ready For Work
in Bay
ARE MANY DEAD BIVALVES

j BALTIMORE, Aug 26.-Next Tues
day. September 1, the oyster longing
season in Maryland will begin and the
luscious bivalve will it is fair to pre-
sumo, be reinstated on the bills OF
fare of every hotel, restaurant and
eating house and in many private
houses as the central figure of the
feast. The season for the taking OF
oysters by means of scrapers in the
deeper waters of the Bay will open
/ october 15 and the Chesapeake Bay
dredging season will begin November
/.
Reports from the Upper Bay from
Sandy Point to Pooles Island are TO the
effect that all oysters on what is known
as the "Teatable Middle Grounds" and
"Lumps" are dead. and the once pro-
life ground where thousands of bushels
of oysters were caught annually has
nothing but shells and dead oysters
10 reward the efforts of the large mum
Der of dredgdfs who relied principally
on that locality for their seasons work.
Reports Conflicting.
Reports from down the Bay from
Sandy Point are very conflicting, but
lit is stated that there are vast quan-
Bay. which il not carried out of the
state win within a few months develop
j into good marketable size oysters. II
was authoritatively stated by a WE'LL
known oyster commission man this
afternoon that while the Upper Bay
will be a heavy loss to both dredgers
and packers there is every reason to
; believe that there will be no dearth OF
bivalves for tbs market. The. loss OF
the up bay territory will be keenly
= felt by the packers, il was stated, who
relied on this stock for steamlng pur-
Il poses. and il win be a question OF
drawing on the Potomac River anC
Iother tributaries of the bay for this
grade
Captain Thomas B. Webster, the
well-known oyster authority. is strong
in his condemnation Of the law re.
lgarding extreme culling enforced OF
dredgers in the Upper Bay, and n,
said that il was a great pity that this
valuable territory, which produced
mostly small oysters, was prohibited t,
the dredger Il is a well-known FAC
he said. that these oysters never grow
to a large size, and. in addition, nevei
live but few years. Thousands o
bushels of marketable size have beer
caught annually and used by the pack
lers in this port for steaming purposes
and without doubt the loss will b.
ifelt most keenly by them. The near
ness to this market made the territor,
desirable to about $50 dredging cap
tains, who made this city their head
quarters.
Notwithstanding the report from tn
upper bay natural rocks, it is the be
3 lief of captains in the dredging in
dustry that there still remain enoug
e deep water oysters in the locality t
! reseed the beds if the law would pro
!. hibit the dumping of mud on tn
grounds.
e Cheer From Eastern Sho'
Reports from the Eastern Shor
state that the quality of spat throw
+ out by the old stock this summer ha
{ been notably large. and coupled wit
this reassuring sign, IT is asserted tha
Il many OF the finest bars and rocks ]
:. the Chesapeake and its tributaries an
well supplied with marketable pro
e duct ready at a moments notice :
e meet the heavy demands sure to 4
s made upon the Maryland oyster rC
T. gion during the approaching fall an
d winter.