850 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Persons who are fond of this animal as an article of food know how much the 
“ fresh ” exceed the “salts” in size and consistency. The “Morris Coves” of this 
city (Philadelphia), while very insipid, are the plumpest bivalves brought to market. 
On the other hand, the “ Absecoms” and “ Brigantines,” while of a better flavor (to 
those who prefer salt oysters), are invariably lean compared to their transplanted 
rivals, as also are the “Cape Mays,” though for some reason not to the same extent. 
The most experienced oyster dealers inform me that the time for allowing the salt 
oysters taken from the seacoast to lie out varies, but is seldom over 2 or 3 days. At 
the end of this time the maximum plumpness is attained, and beyond this the oyster 
becomes lean again, besides having lost in flavor. 
The subjoined statements by Prof. John A. Ryder are interesting in 
this connection. They are taken from a letter to Professor Baird on 
u Floats for the so-called Fattening of Oysters : v * 
The simplest and most practical structures of the kind which I have seen are the 
storage and fattening floats used by Mr. Conger, of Franklin City, Maryland, and 
now in use by all the shippers and planters in the vicinity of Chincoteague Bay. I 
have been informed that similar structures, or rather structures serving similar pur- 
poses, are in use on the oyster beds along the shore of Staten Island, New York. 
It is probably a fact that in all these contrivances they take advantage of the effect 
produced by fresher water upon oysters which have been taken from slightly salter 
water. The planters of Chincoteague call this “ plumping the oysters for market.” 
It does not mean that the oysters are augmented in volume by the addition of sub- 
stantial matter, such as occurs during the actual appropriation of food, but only that 
the vascular spaces and vessels in the animals are filled with a larger relative amount 
of water due to endosmose. It is a dealer’s trick to give his produce a better appear- 
ance in the market, and as such- 1 do not think it deserves encouragement, but rather 
exposure. 
Mr. Conger has actually resorted to warming fresh water to 60 F. in winter by 
steam pipes running underneath the wooden inclosure surrounding the “fattening” ! 
or “plumping” float. One good “Mrink, ” as he expressed himself to me, renders 
the animals'ht for sale and of better appearance. 
Conger’s floats are simply a pair of windlasses, supported by two pairs of piles 
driven into the bottom. Chains or ropes, which wind upon the windlasses, pass down 
to a pair of cross-pieces, upon which the float rests, which has a perforated or strong 
slat bottom and a rim 18 inches to 2 feet high. These floats I should think are about 
8 feet wide, and 16 feet long, perhaps 20. These structures are usually built alongside 
the wharves of the packing and shipping houses, and are really a great convenience 
in conducting the work. 
Elsewhere Professor Ryder speaks of the floats thus : 
The diaphragm itself was constructed of boards perforated with auger holes, and 
lined on the inside with gunny cloth or sacking, and the space between the perfo- \ 
rated boards was filled with sharp, clean sand. This space between the boards was 
about 2 inches ; through this the tide ebbed and flowed, giving a rise and fall of from . : 
4 to 6 inches during the interval between successive tides. 
Mr. F. T. Lane, of New Haven, Connecticut, writes as follows about 
the method of floating practiced by himself, and, as I understand, by 
other New Haven oyster-growers: 
We do not always leave them 2 days in the floats ; as a rule only 1 day. We put + 
them into brackish water and take them out at low water or in the last of the falling 
tide, and then the water is the freshest and the oysters are at their best. As it is not 
convenient for us to put them into the floats and take them out the same day, we do 
* Bulletin, U. S. Fish Commission, 1884, p. 302. 
