Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1913-09-19
OUTLOOK FOR OYSTER
IS THE BEST IN YEARS
Unusually Good Supply Said to
Await Tongers.
STATE TO CONTROL MARKET.
Marked Shortage in Other Statas-
Tongers Increasing in Numbers.

Tongers Increasing in Numbers.
Tue cool weather of last week put a
boon in the oyster trade, and oyster
men throughout the tidewater coun-
ties OF this State are optimistic over
the prospect of the oyster season.
Prom reports gathered from every
oystering Sc ction of the Chesapeake
Bay there is an unusually good sup
ply of marketable bivalves on the
rocks and beds which are now wait
ing for the dredgers. Reports from
the tributaries are also very encour-
aging, the catch so far indicating q
good supply Of oysters of fine quality.
From Holland Point, West River,
Bay Shore, Chester River, Sandy
Point, Miles River and White Hall
oystermen report good catch dur
ing the late spring and summer
months, which will improve as the
season advances. One feature com
mentsd on is that there are no mus
sci on the oysters, which in past sea-
sons caused considerable loss to the
tongers and buyboatmen.
Tdngers are said to be increasing
in numbers, and to show that the
beds are well stocked. two men, with
a Roy to Gull, averages in some places
from IS to 90 bushels a day. Tan
gier and Pocomoke Sounds were open
ed to tongers last Monday, and the
same encouraging reports come from
those sections. The oysters are
large and very fine in quality.
On October 10 scrapers will start
work in the tributaries of the Bay,
and dredging will begin in the Poto-
mac River. No reports have beer
received from the Potomac, but judg.
ing from past seasons it is believed
that the catch will come up to expec.
tations. The actual conditions or
the beds and rocks in the Chesapeake
Bay proper will not be positively de-
termintd until November /, when
the DIRE dying season begins.
According to a well-known oyster
commission merchant the prospe CT
for the oyster business in Maryland
never looked more encouraging. II
is known fact, he said, that there
is a shortage in the catch in New
Jersey and New York, which, with
the report that the Connecticut crop
is a complete failure. places the
Maryland shellfish in a position to
control the market. Maryland and
Virginia are especially favored from
the fact that the oysters are brought
TO the consumer direct from the
rocks and beds and are not fatt sned
by any artificial process.
1t was stated that not until No
vember /, when the packing. houses
completed the packing of fall fruits
and vegetables, would the business
really assume its proper position as
Baltimore industry. At present
the Baltimore packing houses are
having all they can do to handle the
large tomato crop, and therefore do
not care to handle oysters. another
fact is that the regular oyster shuck-
ers-those that follow that work as a
trada-are now scattered among the
toamto packing plants throughout the
State.
Many of the fleet of oyster boats
which engage regularly each season
are now freighting tomatoes, but
after the first heavy frost these yes
sells will begin to overhaul for the
dredging season. For the present
the twenty or more boats now in the
oyster business can supply the de-
mands.