Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1910 — MUSSELS FOB FOOD. [ARTICLE]

MUSSELS FOB FOOD.

Mach Neglected Mollusk Receives Attention of Fisheries Bureau. The possibilities of the mussel as an article of food are receiving attention, and there is official testimony to the effect that the mdssels, which are extremely abundant in the bays and estuaries of the Atlantic coast from North Carolina northward, and along the Pacific coast from San Francisca to Alaska, are particularly nourishing and good for a weak digestion. The Saturday Evening Post has an article showing-that the fisheries bureau tested the question by practical experiments. Mussels in various styles were served on the tables of the mess of the marine biological station, at Wodds Holl, Mass., and received unanimous approval. Scores of other persons, after the way had been paved by the biological station, were persuaded to

try them roasted, steamed and fried, and they report that the flavor is superior to clams and quite equal to oysters. The American Indians, long before the arrival of Columbus, while eating great quantities of oysters and clams, never touched mussels because of a superstitious notion that they were harmful. This idea they communicated to the whites, to whom it has clung ever since. It is for this reason that few people bellevq that the mussel is of any value. The fisheries bureau, as a result of its experiments, now asserts that mussel farms, properly managed, ought to yield ten times the money profit usually obtainable from good agricultural land, and, Indeed, this has already been demonstrated in British waters* where the average annual production is 108 tons of the mollusks an acre, salable in the market for $262. In Europe the mussel is highly reas an article of food, while clams are practically neglected. There the mussel is farmed on an extensive scale. The general method is to collect the young shellfish when they are very small and transfer them to beds in favorable localities, usually in estuaries, where the water is brackish, and other conditions tend to hasten the growth and accelerate the fattening. In such places yields of 100 tons and more to the acre are common. The French give the mussel much attention. For instance, in one fishing village, in the bay of Aiguillon, last year the shipments represented a valpe in excess of $112,000. There wooden structures are prepared for culture purposes. Within a year the mussels are sufficiently grown to be ready for the market. The plan of culture followed is not of recent origin, because it* dates back to 1025 A. D., and was introduced to the French by an Irishman who was shipwrecked on their coast, and who returned the kindness of the fishermen by teaching them how to make the mussel profitable.