572 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



sails itself with two reefs in, and is steered by the dredges. When they are full, as can be told by 

 feeling the cables, the boatman "starts up his sheets all round," and hauls in his catch. 



A good account in the New York Herald, describing modern operations in Peconic Bay, Long 

 Island, shows that neither tools nor methods differ there from those just detailed. 



3. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH. 



Not all of the scallop's flesh, as everybody knows, is fit for food, nor is it edible at all seasons. 

 That portion of the mollusk employed is the firm, yellowish- white mass of that great muscle called 

 the adductor, by which the animal pulls his shells together and is able to keep them shut. Few of 

 the fishermen or dealers, not to speak of consumers, recognize this, however, and call the portion 

 " eye" or "heart "under a vague impression that it is a vital organ of some sort, since when it is 

 injured the scallop opens his shells, an act which, with the uninformed, is tantamount to its death. 



" They are good boiled and pickled," says the judicious De Voe, with calmness, " but much 

 better fried ; many, however, do not like their peculiar sweetness, which is somewhat like the 

 flavor of a rich soft clam's, but much more cloying and satisfactory." More enthusiasm warms the 

 heart in this: "Broiled and stuffed with forcemeat, and served in his own shells, he not only- 

 forms an ornament to the table, but a pleasing variety amongst the fish." But the real, passion- 

 ate admiration of a Ion vivantis only breathed in the following, the credo of a disciple of Epicurus 

 and a Herald reporter : 



"Of 



All fish from sea or shore, 



Freshet or purling brook, for which was drained 

 Pontus and Lucreue Bay and Afric coast, 



the crisp, tawny, not overfried scollop is the most delectable. The unctuous morsels cannot be 

 manducated with dispassionate pretenses. A healthy person cannot swallow them with an affec- 

 tation of not knowing what he is eating, for they possess an indefinable lusciousness not possessed 

 by any fish or fruit, yet approximating to a combination of them all." 



To come down to our prose again, I may remind the reader that the opening, as a rule, is 

 done at home. There is little time or opportunity for opening on the boats, and not even as much 

 culling is done there as there ought to be. Moreover, to throw over the offal and refuse (which a 

 Greenwich man called "gauch") onto the ground would be considered bad policy and likely to 

 drive the living scallops away, or interfere with their proper breeding. All the opening is done 

 on shore, therefore, and a large number of persons are given employment outside of the dredgers. 

 No statistics of auy such employment are available for Rhode Island or Massachusetts, but 

 an interesting and faithful picture is presented of this industry at New Suffolk (or Cutchogue), Long 

 Island, by a recent writer in the New York Herald, as follows : 



" As soon as a load is obtained away go the scallopers for the harbor. The beach at New 

 Suffolk is lined with their houses, no less than eleven of which are to be seen within a quarter of 

 a mile's walk along the sands. The largest of these buildings is 30 feet long by 20 wide. A 

 broad shelf runs along each side, projecting a couple of feet from the walls, and reaching to the 

 waist of a man. Holes are cut in this shelf at regular intervals along its length. Barrels are 

 placed under these holes for the refuse. The scallops are piled up at the back of the shelf spoken 

 of. The openers stand opposite the openings. Dexterity is here seeu in the aptitude acquired by 

 long practice. The openers are gene'rally women, of all ages. Apart from the damp floors and 

 dripping surroundings the work is not hard. Some of the young girls work after being married ; 

 come regularly in the season to gain a penny or two for those little extras coveted by all. We 

 saw in one house two young wives, with cradles behind them containing less than year-old babies, 



