356 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



taken last year, of which 14,968 pounds were sent west by rail, and the others were distributed 

 elsewhere. A few hard clams, probably 600 bushels, were taken. A pound-net west of the village 

 took 25,000 pounds of fresh fish, and about 15,000 pounds of eels were taken with spears and pots. 



NEW SUFFOLK. This small place has been built to accommodate the scallop trade. Ship- 

 ments by rail are made at Cutchogue. The scallop fleet numbers sixteen sloop-rigged boats, 

 ranging from 5 to 15 tons each, the aggregate being about 120 tons. Seventy men are engaged in 

 fishing for scallops ; while twenty men, thirty women, and eighty children are employed in opening 

 the product, making a total of two hundred persons, the majority of whom are Americans, engaged 

 in this industry. The fishery is carried on at any time between October and the following May, 

 when weather and ice do not interfere. The fleet averages 100 bushels (in shell) per day, or 18,000 

 during the season. They "open out" half a gallon of meats to the bushel of shells, making 9,000 

 gallons, which, at an average of 60 cents a gallon, net the producers about $5,400. They are 

 shipped in boxes to commission merchants in New York, the selling price varying from 25 cents 

 to $1.50 per gallon. Not less than $20,000 are invested in boats, houses, and tools. The scallops 

 are caught with dredges (pronounced drudges by the fishermen), similar to those used in taking 

 oysters, except that they have no teeth. The bottom part of the bag, which holds from 1^ to 2 

 bushels, is made of chain and the upper part of net. The boats drift with the tide, and, if possible, 

 with the wind. The dredges are used in 2 to 30 feet of water, 7 fathoms of line being the average 

 length in shallow water; the length is, however, varied according to circumstances, for when 

 it is windy they must pay out more, and when moderate less, to regulate the speed and pre- 

 vent anchoring the boat. If very deep water is dredged, additional lines must be bent on. 

 Scalloping has been practiced here twenty-five years, and it is claimed that the discovery that the 

 species was eatable and marketable originated here. 



Women and children are employed for shucking the scallops; the former ordinarily open from 

 15 to IS gallons per day, according to the size of the scallops, and it is not uucommon to see a 

 woman standing at her place working while she is rocking the cradle with one foot. The work is 

 all done in frame buildings and the people stand in a row at a bench. Children often come down 

 after school and open 5 or 6 gallons. The price paid for opening was formerly 25 cents per gallon, 

 but it was reduced to 15 cents last season, and to 12 cents this year. If the demand for scallops 

 is good, 15 cents will doubtless again be paid. From SO to 200 scallops fill a quart cup, equal to 320 

 to 800 to the gallon. Every part of the scallop is used. The hard adductor muscle is all that is 

 eaten, and it is the only part marketed. The soft parts called "rims" were formerly sold for 

 manure at $1 per barrel, but they are now mainly used by the dealers on their own land. Fifty 

 thousand bushels of shells have been sold at 2i cents per bushel ; they are used for catching oyster 

 spat and are in growing favor on account of the ease with which they go to pieces when the oysters 

 get large. They are often taken from the beds and turned over with a shovel to separate the 

 oysters and keep them from bunching. 



Some of the scallop boats are used in the "off" season for taking hard clams. About twenty- 

 five men are engaged in clamming in the summer, averaging 4 bushels per day from April to 

 October. They catch most of the clams in the early spring and bed them down for summer; 10,000 

 bushels were taken last year ; 200 bushels of soft clams were dug for home supply. 



PECONIC. Three pound-nets on the sound side are owned by residents of this place. The prin- 

 cipal sources of revenue from the fisheries are from these nets and from the catch of menhaden and 

 scallops. Sixty men are engaged in these fisheries, forty of whom are married, with two hundred 

 persons depending upon them. George H. Vail, a pound fisherman, claims that the fisheries arc 



