42 AMKKICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



use them and loo bushels of oysters put into it at liigh water and 

 taken (jut at low water. They were' in the water from 6 to 7 

 iiours and came out very nice, fully as good as those floated 24 

 iiours in the brackish water. It was a warm day and the w^ater 

 was warm. Under these conditions thev will drink very quickly. 

 1 have seen them open their shells in lO minutes after they were 

 put into tlie water." 



For the following valuable information I am indebted to Mr. 

 R. G. Pike, Chairman of the Board of Shell-iish Commissioners 

 of Connecticut: 



"Connecticut oysters, when brought from their beds in the 

 salt waters of Long Island Sound, are seldom sent to market 

 before they have been subjected to more or less manipulati(jn. 

 As soon as possible after being gathered, they are deposited in 

 shallow tide rivers where the w^ater is more or less brackish; and 

 are left there from one to four days; the time varying according 

 to the temperature of the season, the saltness of tiie oyster, and 

 the freshening quality of the water. Generally two tides are 

 sufficient for the two 'good drinks' which the oyster-men say 

 they should always have. 



*' This 'floating,' as it is called, results m cleaning out, and 

 freshening the oysters, and increasing their bulk; or, as manv 

 oyster-men confidently assert, 'fattening' them. If the weather 

 is warm, they will take a 'drink ' immediately, if not disturbed- 

 but if the weather is cold they will wait sometimes ten or twelve 

 hours before opening their valves. Good fat ovsters generally 

 yield Wvc quarts o( solid meat to the l:)ushel; but after floating 

 two tides or more, they will measure six quarts to the bushel. 

 After they have l)een properly floated they are taken from the 

 shell — and as soon as the liquor is all strained oif, thev are 

 washed in cold fresh water — and are then packed for market. 

 In warm \yeather they are put into the water with ice, and are 

 also packed with ice for shipping. Water increases their bulk 

 by abscjrbtion and by mi.xing witli the liquor on the surface of 

 the (jysters. The Salter tlie oyster the more water it absorbs, 

 in twelve hours one gallon of ovsters, with their juices strained 

 (jut, will take in a pint of water; but when very salt and dry they 

 have been known t<i absorb a pint in three hours. 



