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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4235, 16 October 1874, Page 2

The first of September is a noted day in all North American cities. It is “ the “ first of the ‘ R’s the opening day of " the nine months’ oyster season.” The newspapers teem with essays on the delicious mollusk. A leading journal of New York gravely says :

Opening dayin the oysterworld Is a day of grave importance. It concerns everybody. To the thousands of people who make a living by supplying the bivalves to hungry New York it is a day of vast concern. They have been three months watching, waiting, and worrying. Their labor for tho ensuing nine months now begins, and as there is nothing like a good beginning they turn up their shirt sleeves and dash at the millions of oysters awaiting them witli vehemence of spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, young and old, of high or low degree, have a full appreciation of the arrival of the month with the “E" in it. Oysters are always in order. Young men and young women who do not reside in Fifth or Madison avenue, and who do not do their eating and their sleeping behind brown stone fronts, have many pleasant recollections of oysters, and in the light of their experience look forward to Utes it Ute on snowy evenings the coming winter. Oyster stews are to young ladies " sparking ” what candles are to little children who are good. Apart, therefore, from the easy digestibleness of the bivalve, it serves to equanimixe people’s tempers and to reconcile wearied limbs to further trudging on the slippery road to matrimony.' Everybody knows that an oysters never hurt anybody, never interfered with tho eating of " a square meal,” never kept anybody from sleeping, and has always been a welcome warmer after the theatre and tilled many a “gap” when anything more than five cents was altogether out of the question. The oyster is a universal favorite, as it ought to be. A good way to get at the truth about oysters is just to imagine for a moment that the whole crop was a failure this year, and in that case what a terrible gloom would overspread the city, and what a winter would be in store for us 1

A 1 though New Zealanders do not. indulge in such raptures over their oysters, nevertheless a very large quantity are consumed by them. Laws have been enacted by the General Assembly for the protection of oysters, but unfortunately little has been done to stop their wholesale destruction. In Auckland province, the greater portion of the lime used in building is simply obtained from rock oysters, which have been stripped from the rocks, piled in heaps on the sea beach, and burned. In like manner the settlers about the coast use them as manure for their land. Now, inasmuch as there is a limitless supply of limestone in the North Island, we cannot but regard the use of the oyster for lime as reckless waste, which should be strictly prohibited. At Stewart’s Island also, and in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, due precautions are not taken to protect the oyster beds. Oysters have natural enemies enough without man aiding in their extermination. As an article of commerce even, oysters have become of considerable value in New Zealand. Auckland sends its plump rock oysters to Wellington, and Stewart’s Island supplies Dunedin and Christchurch with a large and very superior flat oyster. The demand is at all times great, and the amount of money which the oyster trade represents in the colony must be considerable. In the United States oyster culture employs “thousands and thousands “of men, women, and children, all earn“ing a livelihood by the production, “tending, and transporting of the fish “that never moves.” The process is thus described by the New Yorh Herald-. —

Oysters are first taken from their natural beds, that is they are caught at various places as other fish arc caught. But the supply gained in this way would be entirely inadequate to meet the extraordinary demand were it not that the oystermen have recourse to the plantations.. The planting is done by selecting several acres of water at favorable spots near tho shore, into which the oysters are thrown to spawn, and where consequently the crop Is raised. Tho egg of tho oyster is something like that of the fish ; it spatters out, and rises to the surface, but soon settles down, catching upon tho first substance it meets below. The egg will grow upon a block of wood, or a stone, or almost any hard substance. Oystermen, however, frequently throw into tills plantation some thousands of shells, well dried and whitened and split by the action of the sun, and this method is considered the most favorable to the growth of the oyster. In about two or three weeks the egg has become about the size of a three-cent-picco. It ceases to grow in cold weather, and sometimes the water may become too cold for it to live at all. In the spring it grows rapidly. Old and experienced wholesale oyster dealers say that the oyster is fit for the market after three years' growth, and, in fact, that the oysters yearly presented for sale are rarely over that age. Others, however, say that the oyster has not reached its full maturity until it is seven years old.

The same authority estimates the consumption of oysters in New York, in oyster saloons alone, not to speak of the consumption in hotels, or ordinary restaurants and private families, at 1,075,000 dishes daily. To give a more comprehensive idea of the oyster trade of the United States, we make a further extract;— iy

Along the East Elver, In tho neighborhood of Broome-street, there are eighteen largo wholesale establishments, and on tho North Elver there’ are thirty-three similar ones. These concerns do the great bulk of the oyster trade in New York. In the busy season tho river in front of tho olliccs of these wholesale dealers swarms with schooners and boats laden with oysters. On tho East Elver sixty boats may bo seen in a single day waiting to bo unloaded, while on the North Elver, where tho larger part of the trade is carried on, as many as 180 boats, including some schooners, have been counted. Besides those a largo amount of business is done with independent boats, whoso cargoes are not consigned to any of tho largo wholesale houses. A Herald reporter endeavored to llnd some wholesale dealer who would venture to give on estimate of the oyster business done in this city, hut failed to find one who would say more than that the trade was really enormous, and tho number of men altogether employed outside and in the city, in the business of supply, was beyond his counting to anything like a reasonable estimate. It would bo safe to say. said one gentleman, that 100,000 men moke a livelihood out of tho oyster trade, but tho business is not oonflned to New York alone. The export to tho West is about equal to tho consumption in tills city. Chicago does a groat oyster business,. and the trade with tho West is increasing in proportion ns tho population increases there. From Baltimore, also, large supplies aro sent to the West. Tho oyster trade from

Yilginia laimmepae in tho Winter. nionUis, fully 100 sail of vessel* coming into our' rivers for the oyster market. The growing proportions of the business cannot bo accurately measured, but that it is really extending Is claimed by all in the trade.

■At the present time we do not need to propagate oysters in New Zealand, although we understand that an attempt has been made to plant an oyster bed at Port Chalmers. That the time must come when: oyster culture will be extensively practised in this colony we have no doubt. It has paid enormously in Prance, Groat Britain, America, and other countries, and it undoubtedly will pay to bring oysters nearer to tho markets in New Zealand also. Meanwhile, to guard against disappointment and failure, should an attempt at oyster farming be made, the following points should be remembered: —

Tho tides, the degree of saltness of the water, and the character of the soil, have all to be considered in the multiplication of the animal. It is said that tho general belief that oysters are not fit to eat during the spawning months is a popular error, started and supported by the oystermen themselves in order to'produce a cessation in tho demand. The oysterman must have a good knowledge of the tides and of the anatomy of the oysters .in order to secure proper planting. Especially has he to observe that ho take the oysters from the bed when the tide is running out, so that tho fresh water may conic down from the rivers at the mouth of the beds and supply the fish with drink, for too salt water makes the fish lean and unhealthy. In planting, however, the breeders are put in high water; but when the water is too salt it becomes necessary to remove the plantation for immersion in fresh water, tho latter imparting, according to the judiciousness exercised in its use, delieiousness in flavour and largeness in size. Tho moon is the oysterman’a guide. Opinions differ as to whether rocky bottoms are best (or oyster beds. Many experienced oystermen believe that a soft, sandy loam, like the bed the East River, is the most fruitful. Experience is said to show that in transplanting tho oyster must be returned to a soil almost similar to that upon which it was bred iu the natural bed. Contrary practice has fora result ah excessive mortality!