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Show A GEEAT SEASON FOE, THEM, j ( There "Will Not Only be a Big Crop of Oysters, But They'll be Fine. tN. Y. Letter in Chicago Inter Ocean.) I ( An announcement that will be received ' with joy all over the country is that "oyster! will be exceptionally fine and plentiful this season." While the west J has been suffering from drouth, the Atlantic seaboard has been deluged with rain. This generous downpour is responsible respon-sible lor the large and luscious oyster " crop, for. according to an old oyster man, "oysters need rain just as much as vege-; vege-; ' tables do. It is necessary for the oysters to be fed by the vegetation and growths carried down to the salt water bays by j the fresh water streams, and in seasons of drouth this supply of food is cut off. jj Because of the large amount of vegeta- 5 tion available for the oysters this year ' they are, fat. luscious and of fine flavor." t This same authority on the cultivation of oysters says "The planters who raise the finest oys ters take them to drink just as a farmer waters his cattle. One big firm of wholesalers whole-salers in New York recently constructed a mill pond on Jamaica bay expressly lor ihis purpose. The firm brings its oysters . from its various beds, some of them as far away as New Jersey, and drops them . , overboard in the hay at the mouth of the outlet to the pond. "The pvsters are dropped in when thj tide is half flood, and they are taken up at low tide. The water at the mouth of the creek is almost fresh at low tide. The oysters are left in this comparatively i fresh water from two to two and a half hours, if they are left too long they drink back the salt water, and this de-! de-! tracts from their flavor. Immediately ' alter their fresh water draught the oys ters are shipped to market, i "If you crack the bill of an oyster it I' will die. This is why dredging them with j tongs is preferable to raising them with ' a drag rake while the vessel is in mo- tion. "There are from to 500 oysters in a bushel, and the usual cargo of the oyster ; boats of this port is from to 1,000 ! bushels. The average number of oysters brought to this port for distribution throughout the country is 35.000,000 a day I during the season." |