GULF OF MEXICO: ALABAMA. 571 



holding about 125 pounds. The price per basket varies from $2 to $20 the former when fish are 

 plentiful, and the latter price when the reverse is the case. 



Most of these inside- water fishes are bought by J. F. Mtiybury & Co. and by F. Kuppersinith, 

 who ship them inland. Some are also bought by the inarketmen, who retail them in the Mobile 

 market-house. 



Very few of the fish which come to Mobile are iced. The market-men only ice them when 

 they have a larger amount than can be sold off immediately or when they have a supply of snap- 

 pers for shipment. At such times they pack the fish in rough boxes or in barrels and intersperse 

 broken ice. Maybury & Co. is the only firm which has regular ice-boxes or handles any large 

 amount of iced fish. They own boxes enough to pack away 10,000 or 15,000 pounds of fish. They 

 also have an arrangement for freezing fish, but it does not work well in so warm a climate where 

 in the transit the fish may thaw out; so the arrangement is seldom used. The plan of it is similar 

 to some of the Northern freezing houses, and is as follows : in a large box made of matched boards, 

 with charcoal lined walls, is a zinc cylinder which is filled with finely-broken ice and salt. When 

 fish are to be frozen they are piled around the cylinder, and the box is then shut up tight. There 

 is no really first-class establishment for icing fish in Mobile. 



LAY ON VESSELS. The crew on a fishing smack fish on shares. They pay the provision bills 

 and receive GO per cent, of the proceeds of the trip. The captain, who receives an equal share with 

 the rest of the crew, also receives from the owner or owners 10 or 15 per cent, of his or their share, 

 which is the remaining 40 per cent, of the proceeds of the trip. 



THE OYSTER BUSINESS. About one hundred and seventy-five men are engaged in gathering 

 and hauling oysters to market. They own sixty-two vessels and boats, and sell the oysters to 

 the Mobile dealers. The boats are small, open, flat-bottomed, of the simplest and roughest style. 

 The tongs are those in ordinary use. The knives for opening them are of steel, with heavy flat 

 handles and wide, thick blades, rather more rounded than pointed at the end. 



On the oyster-carrying vessels, where there are but two or three men as crew, the profits are 

 divided as above described on the fishing smacks, excepting in a few cases where the captain is 

 the owner and may prefer to pay his crew wages, $20 and $25 a mouth. 



The "gatherers" of oysters are independent, selling whatever they catch at the regular rate 

 of 10 cents a box or 40 cents a barrel. 



The oysters that a're brought to Mobile are obtained from natural and artificial beds in Mobile 

 Bay. Those from the natural beds are called " reefers," which are slightly inferior in size and 

 quality to those from the artificial beds, which are called "plants." They are obtained in a portion 

 of the bay called the "gully"; the only place where they are naturally abundant. The planted 

 oysters are originally obtained from the salt water, near Cat Island, between Mobile Bay and 

 Biloxi, Miss., and are deposited in front of the oystermau's land. 



The State laws provide that any settler on its bay shores shall have the right to use for oyster 

 culture the water surface in front of his lands from low-water mark GOO yards outward. 



About thirty vessel-loads, or more than 2,500 bushels, are usually planted at first on new 

 grounds, and are allowed to remain two years before they are gathered up to be sold. The next 

 and following times that deposits are made it is not necessary to plant as many as at first; for 

 there are many small oysters that escape the tongs which will soon grow large enough for market. 



It is calculated that in two years the small salt-water oysters will have so grown in size and 

 so increased in numbers that there will be about twice as many as when transplanted; but this 

 ratio can hardly be depended upon, for it often has been proved that, to realize an increase of 50 

 per cent., the location and circumstances must be most favorable. 



