Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-09
RAISING BLUE POINTS.
Great South Bay a Sort Of Finishing
School for Oysters.

Oyster farming in the great South
bay is as different an occupation from
oyster farming in Connecticut, Rhode
Island and other deep-water localities
as the intensive farming of the east
is from the extensive farming of the
west.
In the first place only 5000 acres are
are under cultivation in the entire Blue
Point district, yet from these 5000 acres
some 100000 bushels of oysters are
gathered annually.
Fifteen hundred men are employed
in the cultivation, harvesting, culling
and shipping of the product. while
some so steam and gasoline boats. not
to mention sail and other craft, are al
most constantly engaged
AS a propagating grounds the Blue
Point waters are not very successful,
but for maturing purposes they are
unsurpassed. Less than one-Sixth OF
the annual crop is native to the Great
South bay, the balance being made up
of oysters transplanted from other wa
ters-chiefly Long Island sound and
and GARDENERS bay-and allowed to ma
ture, an oyster being dependent on its
maturing grounds for quality, flavor
| and shape.
The total blue point product being
less than 100000 bushels year. which
includes opened as well as barreled
stock, it can be seen very readily that
large proportion of the oysters sold
under the name Blue Point-at least
five or six million bushels annually
are not Blue Points at all.
When a dealer or restauranteur sells
another oyster for a Blue Point, even
when he believes that the other oys-
ter is just as good. he is perpetrat1ng
a fraud on the public whom he is sup
posed to be serving. The New York
legislature arrived at the same conclu-
sion, for last session it incorporated
the following provision into the she'll
fish bill:
No person, firm or corporation shall
sell or offer for sale any oysters or Ia
bel or brand any package containing
oysters for shipment or sale under the
name of Blue Point oysters other than
oysters that have been planted and
cultivated at least three months in the
waters of the Great South bay in Suf-
folk county"
About 1910 the oysters ceased to pro-
pagate in the bay and gradually be-
came scarcer. until between the years
1926 and 1880 they were very scarce In
deed. and proportionately dear, bring
ing a price IN some cases Of S. a hun
dred Such fabulous stories are told of
the great size of these oysters, and the
last of the old crop, as they were cal
led, that If they were not well corrob-
Grated by the monster shells that are
even today occasionally found in the
deeper waters of the bay they would
seem incredulous stories indeed.
Before long the oysters had entirely
disappeared. but about the year 1889
public spirited citizen of Sayville de-
termined to test once more the posi-
bilities Of the Great South bay in the
matter of oyster cultivation. and with
this end in view brought him in from
Virginia a few loads of seed oysters.
Planted in the bay, these oysters
spawned and increased so rapidly that
all the beds in the eastern portion
thereof were found to be bountifully
seeded with very healthy young oys-
tiers, and the oysters continuing to
seed the bay year after year, prosperity
returned to the observation-disclosures
Magazine.