The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-09-15
In New York
Ry PAUL HARRISON

Here it is getting along toward the second 'r" month, and havnt said anything about oysters. There is quite a lot to say about them, too, because they are fine and pien- tiful this season, and apparently happy about repeal. 2 Prohibition almost did for the oyster business; cut consumption something like 75 per cent. But a stroll along South street, where the fish markets and oyster houses are, reveals aA real boom in the shell-fish game.
 Where Oysters Are Opened
 Most of the wholesale concerns
 have moved into the big markets. but there still are two oyster boa's ~barges. realiy-moored side Iy side under the Manhattan bridge at the end of Pike street. Although they float, they don't get aboEt much. The actual fishing is done b. saltier craft which tie. up at o.s end of these depots. Trucks back up to the other ends and take away the opened biyalves.
 Each barge holds two-story building. They have porches and pilasters ard window shades. and are painted as gaudily as show boats. The oldest belongs to George M. Still, who's about 70. and whose father and grandfather be- fore him were oystermen. There's always a roar of ice-grinding ma. chimes and rush of activity about the place. Men in rubber coats and aprons stand at benches armed with small hammers and anvils and crooked knives. They work by cracking shells, splitting them open and scooping out the oysters-aH practically in single motion. It's a speedy task because the markets won't hire men who can't open at least 6,000 in an eight-hour day. Incidentally. there are about 10000 men-very few swomen-in New York who work as openers.
 Each of them is a specialist in
 one of three schools. There's straight-knife opening. which is necessary for fancy oysters-on-the- |'half-shell. Side-knifing is differ ent approach which may mar the oyster a little. The speed record is 100 in 3 1-2 minutes. The hammer knife method is fastest for bulk production, but it leaves particles of shell which have to be removed. Oysters themselves don't care much which technique is used.
 The War Was Bad
 There are a lot of oyster and clam houses on South street, but the most famous are the street stands, such as the one near Janet Park conducted by old Fat O'Con- nor. He used to open shells for Teddy Roosevelt. and now has regular clientele of Wall streeters, who lounge elbow-to-elbow with seamen and dock workers. Will liam Flanagan and Dave Everett run other stands farther south. and are fond of reminding custom CTS that the original John Jacob Astor began his career with a stand near the Battery.
 The period of the World War
 was sad chapter in the oyster business. and you can't convince oystermen that the. war didn't have something to do with it Strange maladies began to affect the oyster beds, and waterfront people believe they were brought on by munitions chemicals. Any way they point out triumphantly the oysters recovered right after the Treaty of Versailles and have
 been OK ever since.
 Oysters Travel, Too
 Incidentally, a green oyster isn't necessarily q bad one. They're con- sidered quite delicacy in France. Hereabouts, the choicest ones aru Cotuits, grown in Cotuit Bay in Cape Cod. Conditions are just right, somehow, to provide certain nutri- Itive elements, and real connoisseura declare they can tell a Cotuit froni a Bluepoint every time. The catch
 is so small, however, that only a few of the highest priced places offer them to diners.
 Oysters get around lot more than you'd guess. Cotuits for
 instance, have to be taken to other | waters to spawn, and later the youngsters are returned to the Cotuit beds. Bluepoints travel. too. They may be born off the
 shores of Connecticut and reared
 in New York before they end their days in Great South Bay. Oysters
 make the Dionne family look sii- ly; 8 single female bivalve can produce 100,O0O,0O0 young in
 three weeks. If the strain of ma ternity proves too great, she just
 changes her sex.
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