Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-04
Some Things You Want to Know
The Oyster.

with the closing Of the oyster season al
most at hand and a decision on the
"floated" oyster question soon to be given
out. a good opportunity 70 scrape closer
acquaintance with his majesty. the oyster,
is afforded. The whole world stands on
the tiptoe OF expectancy to hear the deei-
sion of the legal question, rs a 'foated'
oyster fattened' oysterg' Once It was
held that IL is not Then the Jersey mem
bers OF congress had the case roopened.
Additional testimony. given by Jerseyites
who flocked to Washington to the hearing.
was taken, and now DR.. Wiley and his
colleagues on the Pure Food board are
wrestling over the problem.
The case in a nutshell Is this: A year
ago tho Pure Food board held that
"floated" oyster was not a "fattened' oys-
ter. Several things led to this conclusion.
In the first place, floating consisted in
gathering oysters from the beds in which
they grew. carrying them into brackish
water, and leaving them there from twelve
hours to two weeks, in floats where they
could drink all the brRckish water they
wanted to. II was found that I'm less than
twenty-four hours they would grow to
twice the natural size OF salt water oys-
ters. 1t was claimed that they would keep
in good condition longer when out Of water,
that they were more pleasing TO the eye
and to the palate. But Or. Wiley thought
It no more possible to fatten an oyster In
a day than TO fatten q steer in week, and
he said so. To prove II he had Eome OF
the two kinds boiled. and then weighed
the cooked flesh. He found that the
"floated" oyster lost 50 per cent more In
cooking than the ordinary salt water oys-
tar he In ha aO-raI1eH fat
tered oyster was nothing more than a
common oyster filled with water The
other members Of the board agreed with
him, and ''floated" oysters were declared
to be adulterated within the meaning of
the pure food law.
A few weeks ago the case was reopened
and reargued. The Jerseyites, who are
principally interested in the "floated"
oyster question, declared that they had
found less than 1 per cent more water in
"floated' oyster than In one not floated,
and that the "floated" ones always we're
free from mud in their "innards," while
the others seldom were free from It, They
produced the evidence Of dealers and hotel
men to prove that the public demands
"floated" oysters that they are larger,
that they are more toothsome, and that
they keep for a long period, while the
'unfloated" ones tend to shrivel up and
become unstable after a day out of the
water As the New Jersey oyster crop Is
more valuable than the wheat crop, the
Jerseyites are greatly interested in the
question.
When the "floated" oyster question was
decided other steps were taken for the
protection Of the public from impure oyst-
was forbidden, and the sale of bad oysters
prohibited. Likewise the use OF unsanitary
containers was interdicted, and after next
May it will be unlawful to ship shucked
oysters with ice or water otherwise ad-
ded. Thus will the public enjoy advantages
during the next oyster season which were
unknown heretofore.
Few businesses possess moro human in
terest than the oyster trade. From the
pearl diver of Ceylon to the gatherer of
the luscious Lynnhaven bay there is a
sort of romance centers about the oyster
man. Whether yielding the pearls without
price or the box o. six friends" which
the humble laborer takes home, or 'pearl'
buttons. the oyster is an interesting, yer-
satile and useful animal.
Even in the oyster trade the good citl-
zen bumps up against the Issue that will
not down-conservation. The inexhaustible
beds of yesterday threaten to be the de-
pleted ones OF tomorrow. Vast piles OF
shells left in Massachusetts regions by the
indians of three centuries ago bear mute
but eloquent witness to the extent of the
beds that once flourished off Cape Cod.
and we are told that Americas first
Thanksgiving dinner had oysters as
| conspicuous feature of the menu. They are
no more.
Further down the Atlantic coast slightly
better methods have obtained and a rea-
sonable effort has been made by state and
private interests to guard the oyster beds.
Luckily the oyster lends itself admirably
to properly wrought out scheme of con-
servation. AS an egg producer 1t is to the
American hen as an express train on
seventy -mile-an hour schedule to the slow
est snail that crawls. Some of the best
layers can turn out 5OOO0,O0O eggs a sea-
son, and just an ordinary, everyday oyster
can produce 16, 100000 eggs a year 1t has
been calculated that If every one Of these
| l6, 900 900 eggs were TO grow into a mature
make a pile Of oysters as big as eight
oyster through five generations they would
! 7