THE CRAB INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 421 



that had been used nine years, but it was made of white pine, the 

 sides and ends being- constructed of strips instead of laths as at present. 

 By means of a rope fastened to one end, a float can be towed to any 

 part of the pound. 



Within each pound is a sloping platform upon which floats are 

 placed at regular intervals to dry. Under ordinarj^ conditions about 

 one-third of the floats are in the water while the remainder are drying on 

 this platform. If the weather is warm a float will become foul within a 

 week and crabs put into it will die much sooner than in a clean one. 

 The painting of floats is an innovation which promises good results in 

 preserving them. It has Ijeen suggested that shades be placed over 

 the floats to protect the crabs from the hot sun. This, it is thought, 

 might materiallv reduce the great mortality among the crabs during 

 midsummer, but as it has not yet been tried its usefulness is prob- 

 lematical. Dealers employ men to watch their floats constantly and 

 remove the crabs from the water immediatel}^ after the shedding proc- 

 ess, to prevent the hardening of the shell. This sorting is done three 

 or four times a day, the intervals being employed in packing the 

 crabs for shipment, receiving fresh supplies, and in delivering those 

 alreadj'^ packed to the express office or steamboat wharf. 



A source of much loss in soft crabs is the great mortality attendant 

 upon the shedding process. If the animal has been injured in any 

 way, either when being caught or in the subsequent handling, or if it 

 has been weakened b}^ being kept too long out of water, it is often 

 unable to withdraw from the old shell and dies. There is but small 

 demand for the crabs which die in the floats. If they are removed 

 and cooked within two or three hours, however, the}^ can still be 

 eaten, and for this purpose command a small price. A few are shipped 

 to ^e used as fish bait, but the majority are either thrown away or 

 given to persons in the neighborhood who feed them to hogs or to 

 impounded diamond-back terrapin. The mortality among shedding 

 crabs is greatest during hot and sultry weather; thunderstorms are 

 said to be very destructive at times, but whether this destruction is 

 due to the sultry weather preceding or to the electrical disturbance 

 during the storm is a disputed point. The crabs in the floats are not 

 fed, even though the}^ remain there for several da3"s. It was for- 

 merly the practice to throw in pieces of stale meat or other refuse, but, 

 although the crabs ate it, they died more quickly than if nothing was 

 given them. 



Ilandling and disposition of crahs. — The boxes in which crabs are 

 shipped are made of thin pine boards and contain from two to three 

 traj's. Occasionally smaller boxes without any trays are also used. 

 By means of the traj^s the lower layer of crabs may be examined 

 without removing the upper ones, as was necessary in the boxes orig- 

 inally used. The present boxes, which cost from 30 to 40 cents each, 



