354 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
in a supply of oysters every fall for use during the winter. Piled up in some cool 
place, usually in the cellar, with the deep shell downwards and between layers of 
seaweed, they would live sometimes for three or four months. At present during 
cold weather it is not unusual for them to remain in bulk in the holds of vessels for 
two or three weeks without great deterioratiou of (piality, and they are at times kept 
as long in the holds of the oyster scows in the New York market, or in the cellars of 
other wholesale depots. 
At several points along the Atlantic coast, and especially at Franklin City, Ya., 
very convenient floats for storing oysters or clams are so arranged in the water adja- 
cent to the market-houses that they may be raised or lowered by means of windlasses. 
The most convenient size of the floats is 20 or 25 feet long, 8 or 10 feet wide, and 2 or 
3 feet deep, the sides and bottom being of strong slats. Four piles are driven into the 
ground, two at each end of a float, and on these rest the windlasses for raising the 
float when it is desirable to remove the oysters. 
An interesting feature in connection with the marketing of oysters is practiced 
in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and a few other localities, viz, the 
“ drinking” or “ freshening” of oysters. The oysters are removed from the reefs or 
planting-grounds and placed in floats or on private areas near the mouth of a small 
stream of fresh water. Here they at once eject the mud and other impurities within 
the shells and clinging to the edges of the mantle and gills, and imbibe a large 
quantity of fresh water, improving the color of the flesh, making it a purer white and 
bloating it into an appearance of fatness. From 10 to 36 hours is the usual length of 
time the oysters remain in fresh water before being marketed. The same result is 
accomplished in some places with the aid of platforms of rough planking set in the 
river bank, on which oysters are thrown at high tide and are left bare by the receding- 
tide; a sluice-gate is then opened and fresh water is allowed to flow over them. 
A more elaborate affair is constructed in the following manner: The shore or bank 
is excavated and piles are driven until a floor can be laid at a suitable level below 
high-water mark. A tight shed is built over this, and on one side a canal is dug, into 
which a boat may run and its cargo be easily shoveled through large openings in the 
side of the shed upon the floor within. As the tide recedes it leaves the oysters upon 
the iilatform within the shed nearly bare, a depth of 8 or 10 inches of water being 
retained by a footboard at the seaward end of the shed. By an arrangement of sluices 
the fresh water is then admitted and the freshening begun, and the bulk of salt and 
of fresh water can be so proportioned as to impart the degr* e of freshness desired. At 
a height of 7 or 8 feet above the oyster platform or pen is another platform or garret 
where barrels, baskets, boat gear, and other small property can be safely stowed. 
When oysters are removed from bulk, and subjected to the varying conditions met 
with in transportation, greater care must be taken, especially to prevent loss of tlie 
liipior, and, secondarily, to maintain a moderately low temperature. 
In shipping short distances, merely placing the mollusks in barrels or in bulk is 
sutticient if the weather is cool. For longer sliipmeuts, or in warm weather, they 
must be iiacked more carefully, and some shippers jilace each oyster with the deep or 
concave shell underneath and iiress the head of the barrel down tightly. Befriger- 
ator cars are used to some extent during both warm and cold weather, and when the 
destination is reached, if not intended for immediate consumption, oysters should be 
kept at a tenpierature between 35° and 45°. If they become frozen they should be 
thawed gradually in a cool place. Oysters will not freeze as readily as clams; and 
