428 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



making good wages in the business. Several instances are reported where men have made as high 

 as $18 to $20 in a single day. 



EELS. Eels are everywhere abundant, and, though few are taken for shipment, they are 

 caught in large numbers with hook and line or pots and baskets, for local use, the aggregate of the 

 catch amounting to many thousands of pounds in the course of the season. 



MENHADEN. For a number of years menhaden (B. iyrannus), locally known as ellwives, 

 alewives, and oldwives, have been taken in considerable numbers by the farmers of the region, who 

 have used small haul-seines for catching a supply with which to manure their laud. Prior to 

 1880 this was the only method of fishing, but at this time an oil and guano factory was built at 

 Crisfield, and during the course of the season 3,500,000 menhaden were taken. These, according 

 to the statements of the managers, produced 300 tons of dried scrap and 10,575 gallons of oil, the 

 value of the products amounting to $10,000 in the aggregate. Thus far the company has met 

 with good success, and the outlook for the future is encouraging. It is hardly probable, however, 

 that any extended business will be developed in the State, as even its southern boundary is so far 

 removed from the mouth of the Chesapeake that the fish seldom occur in any considerable num- 

 bers and the fishermen are usually obliged to enter Virginia waters in order to secure their 

 supply. 



THE CRAB FISHERIES. Grabs are very abundant in the region, and the shipping of both 

 hard and soft crabs is now a very important business. The trade in the latter is said to have 

 begun in 1876, when Crisfield parties first built pens or troughs for confining the crabs until they 

 had cast their shells. After numerous experiments proper apparatus was adopted whereby the 

 business could be prosecuted with considerable profit. The dealers now use shedding pens or 

 troughs, about 15 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. The bottom of the trough is made of 

 inch boards, and the sides are built of laths, arranged vertically about half an inch apart, while 

 half-way between the top and bottom, on the outer surface, is a heavy scantling or float which 

 marks the depth to which the box shall sink in the water. These sheddiug-troughs are placed in 

 the smooth water of some sheltered cove convenient to the packing-house, where they can be 

 frequently visited by the parties in charge, who overhaul them two or three times a day, taking 

 out such as have finished shedding, and carrying them to the shore, where they are packed for 

 shipment. The crabs are purchased from the fishermen at an average of $1 per hundred for such 

 as are beginning to shed. When the shell first begins to open, the crab is styled a "peeler" by 

 the fishermen, and later, as the opening becomes larger, it is known as a "buster." The haul 

 crabs are always rejected by these dealers, and for this reason they are seldom taken by the expe- 

 rienced fishermen, who can usually detect a "peeler" before it is removed from the water. In 

 case a hard crab is taken by mistake it is usually returned to the water, though some parties are 

 iu the habit of saving them and shipping them iu barrels to Baltimore. The soft crabs are packed 

 in trays 4 feet long, 18 inches wide, and 4i inches deep ; great care being taken that each shall be 

 placed in such a position that the moisture shall not run from its mouth, for if the mouth parts become 

 dry, death ensues in a short time. A crate of the size mentioned will hold about nine dozen 

 average-sized crabs. These are shipped chiefly to New York and Philadelphia, though many are 

 sent to the interior cities of Pennsylvania at from 30 to 50 cents per dozen. The people of both 

 Crisfield and Annapolis are extensively interested in this business, and several hundred men are 

 engaged iu crabbing from the middle of May to the 1st of October. It is estimated that not less 

 than 10,000 cases of soft crabs were shipped by Maryland dealers during the season of 1880. In 

 addition to these, considerable quantities were consumed locally. 



A company has been formed at Oxford for the canning of hard crabs, which are very abun- 



