CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FOOD-FISHES. 
851 
not want the water too fresh. On one occasion, wishing to know what the result 
would be of putting the oysters into water that was quite fresh, I had one of my 
floats taken up the river half a mile farther than where we commonly use them, 
and 100 bushels of oysters put into it at high water and taken out at low water. 
They were in the water from 6 to 7 hours, and came out very nice, fully as good as 
those floated 24 hours in the brackish water. It was a warm day, and the water 
was warm. Under these conditions they will drink very quickly. I have oeen them 
open their shells in 10 minutes after they were put into the water. 
For the following valuable information I am indebted to Mr. It. G. 
Pike, chairman of the board of shellfish 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 
manipulation. As soon as possible after being gathered, they are deposited in shallow 
tide rivers where the water is more or less brackish, and are left there from 1 to 4 
days, the time varying according to the temperature of the season, the saltness of 
the oysters, and the freshening quality of the water. Generally two tides are suffi- 
cient for the two “ good drinks” which the oystermen say they should always have. 
This “floating,” as it is called, results in cleaning out and freshening the oysters, 
and increasing their bulk; or, as many oystermen confidently assert, “fattening” 
them. If the weather is warm, they will “take a drink” immediately if not dis- 
turbed ; but if the weather is cold, they will wait sometimes 10 or 12 hours before 
opening their valves. Good fat oysters generally yield 5 quarts of solid meat to the 
bushel; but after floating two tides or more, they will measure 6 quarts to the bushel. 
After they have been properly floated, they are taken from the shell, and as soon as 
the liquor is all strained off, they are washed in cold fresh water, and are then packed 
for market. In warm weather they are put into the water with ice, and are also 
packed with ice for shipping. Water increases their bulk by absorption and by 
mixing with the liquor on the surface of the oysters. The salter the oyster the more 
water it absorbs. In 12 hoursT gallon of oysters with their juices strained out will 
take in a pint of water, but when very salt or dry, they have been kno^n to absorb 
a pint in 3 hours. 
Water always thickens the natural juices that adhere to the surface of the oyster, 
and makes them slimy. If too much water is added, the oyster loses its plumpness 
and firmness and becomes watery and flabby. 
Oysters that have been floated bear transportation in the shell much better than 
when shipped directly from their beds. Oysters, too, that are taken from their shells’ 
and packed in all their native juices spoil much sooner than when their juices are 
strained out and the meats are washed in fresh cold water. 
Long clams are not floated, but round clams are ; but both, when shucked, are 
washed in fresh water ; this cleanses them of mud, sand, and excess of salt, increases 
their bulk, and improves their flavor. After washing, they will keep much longer 
without risk of spoiling. If the salt is left in them, as they come from their native 
beds, their liquor will ferment and they will quickly spoil. 
The above facts are gathered from the most intelligent men in the shellfish busi- 
ness in Connecticut — men who have had many years’ experience in gathering oysters 
and clams and preparing them for home and foreign consumption. They are all 
agreed that by judicious floating in the shell, and by washing and soaking when out 
. of the shell, the oyster and the clam increase in bulk and improve in quality and fla- 
vor. We will not presume to say that thisdncreased bulk is anything more than a 
mechanical distention of the organs and the cellular tissues of the oyster by the 
water ; or that its improved flavor is not due simply to a loss of bitter sea-salt dis- 
solved out by the water. Many intelligent cultivators are confident that the increase 
in bulk is a growth of fat ; while just as many, of equal intelligence, declare that it is 
mere “bloat” or distention, akin to that of a dry sponge when plunged into the 
water. The exact nature of the change the chemist alone can determine. 
