654 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



At the factories they are heaped up in bins and allowed to remain from one to two months, after 

 which they are roughly torn to pieces and thoroughly dried in a metal cylinder over a furnace. 

 They are then ground up finely in a mill, and the product, called " cancerine," is generally com- 

 posted with muck, lime, or other suitable material. It is also frequently used pure, especially by 

 the farmers, who prepare their own supplies. It is highly recommended as a fertilizer for grain, 

 and is also extensively employed by the fruit growers of Southern New Jersey and Delaware. 

 The chemical composition of cancerine is given further on. 



STATISTICS. On account of the irregular manner in which the horseshoe crab industry is 

 conducted, it has been impossible to obtain complete statistics as to its extent and value. A few 

 figures obtained from some of the regions where it is carried on will, however, serve to give some 

 idea of its importance. 



In the neighborhood of Dennysville, Cape May County, New Jersey, about a hundred men 

 engage in crabbing during the season, and make about $2 a day each. Within 15 miles of the town 

 about 1,000,000 crabs were obtained last season (1879). Near Woodbury, N. J., about the same 

 number of men are similarly occupied during the season, and take from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 

 crabs yearly. Four dollars a ton, containing about 1,000 live (or fresh) crabs, is paid for them at 

 the factories. At Goshen, N. J., about one hundred men were also engaged, and they take 500,000 

 or 600,000 in a season. At Fishing Creek the catch is much smaller, amounting to only a little 

 over 100,000 each season. 



STEAM MILLS FOB PRODUCING THE FERTILIZER. Ten years ago there were three steam 

 mills in the immediate vicinity of Dennysville for producing the crab fertilizer. Now, on account 

 of the diminished supply of crabs, their number has been reduced to one, which uses up about 

 800,000 crabs a year. A great many crabs, however, are sent from Southern New Jersey to the 

 Commercial Fertilizer Company's mill at Wilmington, Del., where they are extensively prepared. 



DELAWARE. On the Delaware State side of the bay the season for taking horseshoe crabs 

 is the month of May, when about fifty men engage almost exclusively in the business. The crabs 

 are principally taken between Mahoue's and Mispillion Creeks, and are most abundant during 

 about four or five days, at the full and change of the moon, in the night time. The fishermen 

 work with scows built for the purpose, and which are about 16 feet long and 10 to 12 feet broad. 

 Their capacity is about 300 bushels each. In the scows the crabs are carried to some convenient 

 locality, where they are thrown upon the beach and allowed to dry. They are then sent to the 

 factory at Wilmington. About 900 tons of these crabs, equal to about 900,000 individuals when 

 fresh, are taken by the fishermen each season. The dried crabs weigh about one-third as much as 

 the fresh. The prices paid to catchers is $3 per thousand fresh, or $10 per ton dried. 



DECREASE. According to the statements of many of our informants, horseshoe crabs are 

 becoming constantly less abundant in Delaware Bay, owing to the practice of capturing, so far 

 as possible, every individual that comes upon the shore. 



ACCOUNT OF THE INDUSTRY BY THE STATE GEOLOGIST OF NEW JERSEY. The follow- 

 ing interesting remarks on the horseshoe crab industry of Southern New Jersey, extracted from 

 the report of the State geologist of New Jersey for 1868, add many important facts regarding 

 the value of this product: 



"The Delaware Bay shore is remarkable for the immense numbers of this animal (the Lintulim 

 Polyphemus of the naturalists) which frequent it. At the season for depositing their eggs, which is 

 in the latter part of May and in June, they come on shore in almost incredible numbers. The whole 

 strand for many miles is covered with them, sometimes two or three deep. Thomas P. Hughes, of 

 Town Bank, said that, on his shore of 100 rods he could get 100 : 000 in a week; 750,000 have 



