THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 455 
a few years a dealer versed in the methods of the Bahama fishery introduced 
the present type of square bales. These vary in size according to the demands 
of the trade, the standard weights being 15, 30, 50, and 60 pounds. But one. 
size, kind, and grade of sponges is placed in a bale, the pieces being packed in 
layers and rows, due care being exercised that when the head of the bale is 
opened the contents shall present the best possible appearance. A simple screw 
press is used for compression of the bale to about 4o per cent of its hand-packed 
thickness. The bales while still under pressure are sewed up in burlap and 
corded with jute rope 14 or 3 inch in diameter. They are then weighed and 
marked with a card giving the date, the kind and grade, the weight, and the 
number of pieces. The sponges are packed almost dry, so that the pieces when 
relieved from pressure remain compressed until moistened. Owing to the 
hygroscopic character of sponges, the weight of the bales fluctuates in accordance 
with atmospheric conditions, moisture being absorbed in wet weather and 
discharged in dry, and dealers and jobbers selling sponges by the bale frequently 
keep their stocks in damp places for the sake of the gain in weight. When reason- 
ably dry, baled sponges will keep for years without deterioration, but if allowed 
to become wet, especially with fresh water and in warm weather, they some- 
times ‘“‘heat” and turn yellow or orange in color, with more or less loss of 
strength of fiber. 
During ten years or so preceding the inception of diving, owing to the 
limited supply of sponges and their high price, there grew up a practice of 
“Joading”’ by which the weight was increased by the addition of foreign matter 
of various kinds. In later years this practice became so extravagant that 
practically all Florida sheepswool sponges were loaded to double their natural 
weight and in some cases the increase was 150 per cent. The fact of loading 
was well known-in the trade and what was originally a deception became in 
the end a sort of legitimate fraud which deceived nobody, though the degree 
to which it should be practiced was a source of constant controversy between 
the packers and the jobbers. The process was originally fraudulent, but 
eventually absurd, the same amount of actual sponge being obtainable at 
about the same price, whether loaded or pure. In fact, a pound of pure sponge 
could usually be obtained at a slightly lower cost than double the quantity of 
goods loaded 100 per cent, the packer having to reimburse himself for the 
labor and materials consumed in loading. In addition, the quality of the 
loaded sponge was injured by reason of the gritty materials employed, which 
detracted from its usefulness for the finer purposes in the arts. 
The methods of loading were supposedly kept more or less secret by the 
various packers, but, as a matter of fact, they differed only in minor details. 
The clipped sponges were placed in tanks containing a ‘“‘dope” composed of 
water, glucose, glycerine, dextrin, salt, litharge, sand, and similar materials, the 
