6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" culls," and are sold by the bushel. These are used in making the 

 popular " stews " of the saloons ; also, when opened, it is this sort 

 that is sold by the quart for domestic use. The others are known 

 as " count," and the restaurants serve them up as " fries," and on the 

 half-shell, as raw. These are sold by the hundred. 



After the harvest is finished, not a few oysters will yet remain on 

 the beds. The grounds are then given up to the laborers who have 

 worked them on hire. Under a new impulse these men go over the 

 grounds again with tongs and dredge. They work. on shares usually, 

 returning to the owner of the beds one-half of the results, which 

 makes a really handsome thing for the gleaners, whose work in this 

 way lasts from two to three weeks, making three or four days a 

 week, each man often clearing as his portion from four to five dollars 

 a day. At any rate, such generally is the practice with its results at 

 Key port, N. J., where for many years the principle of the good old 

 biblical rule, of not forgetting the gleaners, is almost religiously ob- 

 served in the last gathering of this harvest of the sea. 



Local Vaeieties. It is generally conceded that the Northern 

 oyster is superior to the Southern. Upon this understanding, and the 

 fact that formerly the Southern oysters that were brought north were 

 chiefly procured from Chesapeake Bay, and the favorite Northern 

 natives were got around and near New York, the old oystermen used 

 to speak in general terms of two kinds, the Southern and the Northern, 

 which they designated as " Chesapeakes " and " York Bays." There 

 are, however, a great many local names, which are supposed to in- 

 dicate special excellences. All these northern edible oysters are of 

 one species, Ostrea borealis. Some naturalists, however, claim that 

 the Southern is different, and should be called Ostrea Virglniana. 

 But for the plain reason that both varieties can any day be found in 

 any oyster-bed in Long Island Sound, and indeed they seem to change 

 by growth indiscriminately into each, a more rigid science would 

 refer them all to the name given by Lister Ostrea Vtrginiana. Yet, 

 take them in the mass, and any experienced oysterman will tell the 

 Southern from the Northern. The European oyster is called Ostrea 

 edulis ; but that it is sufficiently different to make a distinct species is 

 far from certain. Experienced dealers will pick out the local varieties 

 of the Northern article. Of these we have many names such as the 

 Keyport, City Island, Guilford, Blue Point, Rockaway, Saddle-Rock, 

 Shrewsbury, etc. The Blue Point was for fifty years " the Knicker- 

 bocker among oysters." It was raised chiefly in Great South Bay. 

 This fine oyster had to yield on the appearance of the splendid Saddle- 

 Rocks. This name is still given to all very large oysters, and generally 

 to those taken in the East River. It is, however, no longer in exist- 

 ence. They were first brought to Fulton Market, New York, by an 

 old negro named Henry Scott. The following, by our friend Dr. O. R. 

 Willis, is authentic. It appeared in the New York Observer : 



