2 BULLETIN *740, U. S. DEPARTMENT. OF AGRICULTURE. 
COMMERCIAL TREATMENT OF OYSTERS. 
As a slight knowledge of the methods of handling oysters is neces¬ 
sary for a clear understanding of the various subjects touched upon 
in this bulletin, a brief outline of the essential features involved in 
the preparation of oysters for the market, beginning with the dredging 
of the mature oysters, that is, those which are three or four years of 
age, will he given first. 
Oysters are grown in water of a salinity ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 
per cent, calculated as sodium chlorid, the average being about 2.5 
per cent, and are covered to a depth of from 5 to 50 feet at mean low 
tide. In many cases the beds are so far from the oysterhouse that 
upon arrival the oysters may have been out of water for several days. 
For the beds near the house the period is shortened to a few hours. 
“Shucking” oysters, the process of opening the shells and removing 
the meats therefrom, is always done by hand, and those engaged in 
the work are called “shuckers.” The shucker puts the oyster meats 
into a perforated dipper holding 1 gallon. From the shuckers’ dippers 
the oysters are emptied upon the “riffles,” inclined, corrugated metal 
boards, down which a thin stream of water runs. The slight bumping 
caused by the corrugations tends to remove the bits of shell which 
may cling to the body of the oyster, and the water both hastens its 
progress and washes off most of the dirt wdiich it has acquired during 
the process of opening. From the riffles the oysters slide through 
metal chutes to the sorting table, where they are graded and those 
not fit for food are culled out. In Connecticut the following grades 
of oysters are recognized: (1) “Straights,” the name given to the 
entire output of the plant, not graded, with only those unfit for food 
removed; (2) “counts,” very large oysters, not mutilated in opening, 
perfect in shape and color; (3) “selects,” smaller than “counts,” but 
larger than the ordinary run of stock, unmutilated and perfect in 
shape and color; (4) “standards,” the ordinary run-of stock from 
which the “counts,” “selects,” and “culls” have been removed. 
From the sorting table the oysters slide down metal chutes to the 
washing and chilling tanks, where they are thoroughly washed in 
running water, and chilled by means of ice, if the weather is warm 
enough to require it. The method of washing and chilling oysters 
had changed materially in the years immediately preceding the time 
of this investigation, and, instead of only one method, several methods 
were in use. The old method of preparing shucked oysters for the 
market consisted in washing the stock as received from the shucker 
upon a perforated “skimmer board,” by means of running water 
from a hose, the oysters being moved about with a paddle during 
the process. The oysters were then placed in tanks of ice water with 
chunks of ice, and chilled for a period of time not exceeding 20 
or 30 minutes, Mechanical devices, however, had been invented 
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