HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 87 



with the whitelish, and that so far from being diminished by capture 

 they appear to be on the increase. The men in the employ of the George 

 W. Miles Company, took 12,000,000 fish in 187:;, 10,000,000 in 1872, 

 8,000,000 in 1871, and 8,000,000 in 1870. 



Mr. F. Lillingston, of Stratford, states that the propotionate abundance 

 of whitefish to any other species is about 1,000 to 1. About 5,000 barrels 

 are taken each year. Fishing has no effect on their numbers, though 

 previous to 1871 they were growing scarce close to the shore. 



Oa the coast of Kew Yorlc. 



100. In the eastern district of Long Island, according to Captain 

 Sisson, the mossbunkers are, and seem likely to be, the most numerous 

 species. He estimates that the number taken by purse-nets in 1873 

 was 50,000,000, by other nets 10,000,000. Captain Sisson. 



Mr. Joseph D. Parsons, of Springs, SufTolk County, New York, esti- 

 mates the total catch of 1877 at 150,000,000 of fish ; 1,150,000 of these 

 he credits to the 50 pounds and traps. 



During the three months ending June 30, 1872, there were 20,000,000 

 of menhaden caught in Gardiner's and Peconic Bays. These fish were 

 rendered into 11,400 gallons of oil and 1,500 tons of guano, and yielded 

 $80,000. The business of the year it is stated will be a failure. In 1871 

 the receipts of the season amounted to $156,000.* 



New York papers of August, 1872, stated that during the two weeks 

 ending on the 17th of the month, the waters of Long Island Sound 

 swarmed with menhaden. One fishing company took 1,300,000, realizing 

 $1 per thousand; another took 3,000,000. One company had rendered 

 5,000,000 into oil and guano during the season, not running to its full 

 capacity. The price of the fish, formerly CO cents per hundred, had been 

 reduced to $1 per thousand ; yet the fishermen asserted that they could 

 make money at the latter rate if they could sell their whole catch, but 

 only one-third had been taken by the factories. 



During 1871 24,520,000 menhaden were taken in the Eastern Long 

 Island Bays. In less than one week, in 1872, six companies took 

 1,650,000. The '^ Cove Company" was said to have surrounded with 

 its nets 1,000,000 at a time, but through a foult of the nets only 400,000 

 were taken. One of the pound nets became so full that the crew could 

 not haul it, and the fish succeeded in breaking it loose from the stakes ; 

 it was afterward washed up on the bar. By actual count it contained 

 over 800,000. In two weeks, in 1872, the seines took over 2,000,000. 



The two steamers and three sloop-yachts of Hawkins Brothers, James- 

 port, N. Y., took in the season of 1877 20,500,000 fish, yielding 82,350 

 gallons of oil and 3,275 tons of scrap, about one-half of which Vv as dried 

 fresh from the presses. 



The two sloop-yachts of William Y. Fithian & Co., Napeague, N. Y., 



*PQljlic Led-er, Pbiladelpliia, .July 17, 1372. 



