Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 49.djvu/560

540 done its work, when they will be found to have shrunken to less than the original size; hence it is best to avoid the white meats if possible. It is probable that the price for the unwatered scallops would be better if all shippers would agree to stop the practice, and then all scallops would be "Rhode Islands," although market men say that some from that State are watered. The practice is a bad one, because it injures the sale of the meats, as may be seen by comparing the prices in the markets. The scallop is never shipped alive in the shell, because it breaks easily



and does not live more than a day or two out of the water; besides, being so bulky, the freight would be higher.

Fried with bacon is the most popular way this mollusk is served, although it is occasionally broiled or stewed, and in New York restaurants the order, "Fry, half and half," is often given, which means oysters and scallops, or it is sometimes "A fry, half scallops," for "a fry" is supposed to mean oysters alone. It is only some forty years since the scallop has been known in the markets and became an object of pursuit by the fishermen. Dr. De Kay, although living at Oyster Bay, on Long Island, knew little of it as food, for in his Mollusca, Part V, Zoology of New York, 1843, he says: "It abounds on shallow sandy bottoms and is taken in great quantities for food, the broad and stout muscular portion being the only part of the animal used. This is boiled and put in vinegar, and considered by many as a great