HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 447 



what overdone. Since that time many have gone out of the business 

 altogether; others have consolidated, and at the present writing there 

 are ten establishments in operation and are doing a fair business, giving 

 employment to a large number of people and bringing up a hardy race of 

 boatmen and sailors. There is about $500,000 invested in the business 

 in this vicinity. 



51. New York, Boston, and Europe. 



65. The Connecticut Valley and the Southern States. 



5G. For painting, tanning, manufacture of rope, lubricating, and adul- 

 teration. 



57. Thirty-two to 47 cents per gallon in 1873; 40 to 50 cents per gal- 

 lon in previous years. 



58. The general opinion is that there is no diminution. 



51. Statement of David 0. Vail, River Head, Long Island, March 2Q, 1875. 



1. Menhaden. 



2. More abundant than any other. 



3. Has not diminished. 



4. Fifty millions of fish in 1873, and as many in 1874; in this vicinity 

 we measure them and pay for them by the thousand, calling each fish 

 21 inches, or taking up that amount of space. When they are fat they 

 are larger, and then by measure we would get perhaps only 800 fish for 

 1,000 ; then sometimes they come small, and poor, and we would get, 

 perhaps, 1,200 fish for the 1,000. In Maine they measure them in bar- 

 rells, calling 300 fish to each barrel. 



5. Not any, judging from my experience for the last ten years. 



6. From the 1st to the 10th of May. 



7. They swim low when they first come, if the weather is cool, but 

 soon come to the top of the water, and are known as top-water fish. 



8. They come from the south, following the coast generally. 



9. Their appearance is regular and certain ; I never knew them to 

 fail ; but they are sometimes more plentiful on some grounds than on 

 others. 



10. I think it does tend to change their ground. 



11. Generally they go with the tide. 



12. Bays and sounds. 



13. We find them in any depth of water, but generally they swim on 

 the top of the water. 



14. They like warm temperature. 



15. We find one and two year old fish all mixed together. 



16. Yes ; they are spawned at the head of the bays, and stay all sum- 

 mer, until they are half grown. 



17. They leave about the 1st of November, generally in a body. 



18. By the same route as they came, following the coast south. 



