FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 



2 39 



One remark led to another, and the conversation concluded by the banker's 

 giving him the address of a party in Hamburg, and becoming responsible 

 for a shipment of fifty barrels, which were sent per steamer. They were 

 put up with extra care and handsomely stenciled, "Procter, Trask & Co., 

 Cape Ann Herring," on the barrel head. While the herring were lying in 

 New York, a German merchant saw them and obtained permission to open 

 one of the barrels. He was so well pleased with the fish that he immedi- 

 ately telegraphed on for the price of 200 barrels of the same kind. The 

 price was given and the order at once received. They were immediately 

 packed and went on the steamer. Procter, Trask & Co. therefore have the 

 honor of shipping the first lot of herring from Gloucester to Germany. 



The Worth of Oysters and Fish 

 for Food. — The researches of Prof. 

 W. O. Atwater of Wesleyan University 

 of Middletown, Conn., in getting at 

 the facts of the worth of fish and oys- 

 ters as food are worthy of the attention 

 bestowed upon it. Exceedingly inter- 

 esting have been the determinations 

 of the nutritive values of some of the 

 invertebrates, as oysters, scallops, lob- 

 sters and crayfish, which are to be found in these investigations. It is well 

 known that in the mollusks water forms the largest proportion. So in 

 Stony Creek oysters we find 90.47 of water ; in Blue Points, 80.76 ; in Nor- 

 folks, 91.45 ; in scallops, 80.32 ; in clams, 86.20 ; in lobsters, 82.73, an ^ m 

 crayfish, 81.22. The fat in oysters finds its maximum in 2 per cent., though 

 about 1.25 is a fair average. In the albuminoids they are fairly rich, the 

 Blue Points having 8.20, but the scallop, the muscular part, of course, only 

 being considered, has as much as 14.75 P er cent. In lobsters the fat is 

 1.97, the albuminoids 13.57, and the nutritive value is 62, about the same 

 as flounder. These considerations about the nutritive values of oysters 

 only regard the edible portions, but Prof. Atwater has studied the relations 

 of shell to meat, and we find that in 100 pounds of Norfolk oysters, shell 

 and all, there is really only one pound of nutritive material. The highest in 

 the list is the Blue Point, which for every 100 pounds of weight of shell 

 holds 2>}i per cent, of meat. But when Long Island clams are examined, 

 there is an increase in nutrients, for in the 100 pounds of shell and all there 

 is 7.77, and in lobsters 6.80. In general, Prof. Atwater's tables seem to 

 show that the Northern oysters are the richer and the Southern the poorer 

 in nutritive elements. When relative nutritive values are studied, the worth 

 of fish food will be thoroughly appreciated. 



