Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1910-09-01
OYSTER SEASON
ON MONDAY NEXT
Many Boats Ready for the
Season.
OYSTERS ARE FINE.
All Oysters Will Be Floated and
Will Be Marked-Market
Promises Go0d
(From the MillvilIe Republican,

F'rom the Millville Republican,
Lovers of oysters have not much
longer to wait before the delicious
bivalves will be in the market and. if
all prognostications come true, will
be no dearer than last year.
Resembling mighty fleet of racing
yachts waiting for a signal, more than
500 sail and motor boats, lying off
Maurice River and Port Norris. on
the New Jersey shore, and Mahon's
Creek, kits Hammock and Bowers
Beach, on the Delaware side, are
ready with sails trimmed to be hoist
ed and engines to be turned over" for
the opening of the oyster season on
Thursday.
Standing by, anxious to man their
boats, are fully $500 oystermen of the
two States, ready at the appearance of
the first streak of dawn that morn
ing to dash for the oyster beds, ex-
tending over the lower Delaware Bay,
make the first haul of oysters and
dash back to the shipping points to
rash by express the first bivalves of
the year to the city markets.
Oystermen and dealers are dazzled
by the prospects of the biggest season
Tor two decades. Everybody about
here knows Uncle Ben Shibber. of
Port Norris, the veteran oysterman.
Although he is rs years of age and
has spent So years "oystering" he
will go out again this year. He SAYS.
Il cannot think of time when oysters
grew to be so fat or were so plentiful y
Unc'e Ben's friends expect to see him
one OF the first to catch the market
trains and are willing to lay wagers
on his success. He only smiles and
takes another look at his boat. y
Oyster dealers at Maurice River as
sert that there will be no boost in
prices this year, even though the coves
and Delaware Bay product will be
more delectable than ever before.
That news will delight the epicures
and all others for it insures a tooth
some substitute for high priced meats
at reasonable price.
The oystermen in this vicinity are
all ready to go down the river and
get in line to, make the "Klondike
rush" for the oyster beds. Practically
all of the lower bay.a excepting the
channel from the breakwater to the
river, is covered with beds.
oysters are planted every five years.
They are not dreged until they are
three and four years old. AS soon as
the supply is exhausted in one bed. il
is replanted. This is done after the
closing OF the regular season, and is
the first work done after May 1.
AS walls and fences divide farms
and estates on land, oyster beds are
separated by stakes. These have no
individual markings but an oysterman
tnat can't pick out his own field with
out the stakes, is. rarety. Some of
them can even pick out on the sloop
and tell from whose fields each pile of
oysters was dredged. to
The foe of the oysterman is the, bore
tiny sea animal that bores through.
the shell of the oyster and devours it.
The trips of the dealers this summer
to the beds have revealed but few
traces of this pest.
Most OF the boats employed in the
oyster trade are owned by Jerseymen.
About 200 are licensed under the laws
OF this State, while the remainder on
crate under Delaware license. Both
this State and Delaware have patrol
boats on the beds during the closed
season to prevent illegal dredging.
Last season the prices approxi-
mately were $S per thousand for
primes and $4 for seconds or culls.
The prices this year, according to the
dealers, will range about the same
figures although there may be slight
change, with no material raise.
Oysters will be foated. though all
sacks and kegs will be marked floated
oysters, so as to comply with the in
structions of the Pure Food Commits
sion.S Everything has been done to
prevent impurities reaching the float
ing beds, and no one need be afraid to
eat their fill of Maurice Coyes".