SHRIMPING, MUSSELLING 



many tons of them are eaten by the London poor alone, 

 every winter ; buying them at a penny a quart, a family 

 can have a meal for twopence. 



Even then, we have not accounted for a third of the 

 numbers given above. The prime mussels are required as 

 bait for line-fishing, and are sold at the rate of rather 

 less than 2 a ton (over 51,000 fish go to the ton). 

 Many boats' crews of the Scotch and North Country 

 fishers who go out into deep water for cod, haddock, etc., 

 will use over four tons per boat, in a month, in this 

 manner. Wherefore let it no longer be wondered at, 

 that a shrimp- or oyster-boat, in her otherwise idle spells, 

 should go a-musselling. Mussels used in the pearl- 

 industry will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. 



Not only are these useful bivalves gathered for sale, 

 but, in some parts of the coast, they are collected and 

 transplanted to special beds with as much care as if they 

 were oysters. Those taken from the beach, it may be 

 noticed, are rarely fat and full ; perhaps the constant out- 

 going of the tide disturbs their feeding. Therefore it is 

 necessary to find those that frequent moderately deep 

 water ; and these are obtained by dredging. The dredge 

 used is very like that employed for oyster-catching ; it is 

 thrown overboard from a barge or smack, and the mussels 

 that it brings up are picked out from the accompanying 

 mud and rubbish and stowed in the hold. 



Musselling is much more irksome than shrimping, for 

 the men are often away for several days without a break, 

 their object being not to catch so many boxes full or so 

 many gallons, but to fill their boat till she cannot possibly 



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