636 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



from Moriches Bay, on the south side. They are taken by means of trot-lines, with the snoods 2 or 3 

 feet apart. These are baited with meat, eels, or other kinds of fish, and the line is under-run by a 

 man in a small boat, the crabs being taken up in a scoop net. Shipments are irade to New York 

 in second hand cement barrels, obtained from the East River Bridge Company, at a cost of 10 cents 

 each. The Long Island Kailroad transports the empty barrels free of charge for the sake of the 

 freight when full. The principal other places on Long Island where Mr. Mather found the crab 

 fishery carried on, though to a less extent, both for home consumption and shipment, were : 

 Canarsie, Flatlands, Sheepshead Bay, Graveseud Bay, Bay Shore, Cold Springs, Oyster Bay, and 

 Centreport, Huntington Bay. 



The product of this fishery for New York State, including Long Island, to which the industry 

 is mainly confined, amounted in 1880 to 1,624,583 pounds, valued at $69,234. The crabs were 

 mostly taken and sold in the hard-shell state. 



NEW YORK CITY MARKETS. The blue crab is about the only species of crab that is sold 

 in the New York markets. Hard crabs are received in greater or less quantities during every 

 mouth of the year, but most abundantly during the winter. Soft crabs first begin to arrive about 

 May 1, from the coast of Virginia ; about the 1st of June, from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay ; 

 about June 15, from the New Jersey coast, and about July 15, from the coast of Long Island. The 

 greatest consumption of soft crabs is from July 1 to September 1, when the daily sales some- 

 times reach 2,000 dozens. This amount may, however, be considered as the maximum. 



Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York City, furnishes the following estimate of the average 

 sales of soft crabs in Fulton market, by months, for each summer during the past two or three years : 



Dozens. 



May a, 600 



June 9,000 



July '. 22,500 



August 22,500 



September ; 1,500 



Total 58,100 



The prices of these crabs vary with their abundance and the time of year, from 50 cents to 

 $2 per dozen. Sometimes, but rarely, the price falls as low as 25 cents per dozen. One dollar 

 a dozen is regarded by Mr. Blackford as a fair average price for the entire season, making the 

 total value of the sales for one season about $58,000. 



The quantity of hard crabs sold annually in Fulton market averages about 750,000 by count, 

 the average price being about 1 cents each, and the total yearly valuation, $11,250. They 

 come mostly from the south side of Long Island. About one-fourth of the crabs sold in New 

 York are shipped to other places, but the above estimates do not cover the entire amount marketed 

 in that city, according to the returns from other States. 



NEW JERSEY. The edible crab is abundant along the entire New Jersey coast, coming out 

 of its winter haunts in the early spring and thronging the shoal waters during the summer. Its 

 summer habitats are the bays and sounds, the mouths of creeks and rivers, and even the salt flats 

 and shoals, where the tides ebb and flow, in depths of a few inches to 10 feet and more. Many 

 are often left exposed at low water, and some ascend the streams to where tlie water is decidedly 

 brackish or even nearly fresh. In the winter they geuerally go into deeper water, and bed in the 

 mud, but sometimes they remain concealed in the shallow water near shore. 



The shedding season is said to begin the latter part of May and to continue until October. 

 During this period a great number of men and boys and even women engage in crabbing, press- 

 ing into their service all the old boats and scows available. On the Northern New Jersey coast, 



