THE CRAB INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 421 
that had been used nine years, but it was made of white pine, the 
sides and ends being constructed of strips instead of laths as at present. 
By means of a rope fastened to one end, a float can be towed to any 
part of the pound. 
~ Within each pound is a sloping platform upon which floats are 
placed at regular intervals to dry. Under ordinary conditions about 
one-third of the floats are in the water while the remainder are drying on 
this platform. If the weather is warm a float will become foul within a 
week and crabs put into it will die much sooner than in a clean one. 
The painting of floats is an innovation which promises good results in 
preserving them. It has been suggested that shades be placed over 
the floats to protect the crabs from the hot sun. This, it is thought, 
might materially reduce the great mortality among the crabs during 
midsummer, but as it has not yet been tried its usefulness is prob- 
lematical. Dealers employ men to watch their floats constantly and 
remove the crabs from the water immediately after the shedding proc- 
ess, to prevent the hardening of the shell. This sorting is done three 
or four times a day, the intervals being employed in packing the 
crabs for shipment, receiving fresh supplies, and in delivering those 
already packed to the express office or steamboat wharf. 
A source of much loss in soft crabs is the great mortality attendant 
upon the shedding process. If the animal has been injured in any 
way, either when being caught or in the subsequent handling, or if it 
has been weakened by being kept too long out of water, it is often 
unable to withdraw from the old shell and dies. There is but small 
demand for the crabs which die in the floats. If they are removed 
and cooked within two or three hours, however, they can still be 
eaten, and for this purpose command a small price. A few are shipped 
to be used as fish bait, but the majority are either thrown away or 
given to persons in the neighborhood who feed them to hogs or to 
impounded diamond-back terrapin. The mortality among shedding 
crabs is greatest during hot and sultry weather; thunderstorms are 
said to be very destructive at times, but whether this destruction is 
due to the sultry weather preceding or to the electrical disturbance 
during the storm is a disputed point. The crabs in the floats are not 
fed, even though they remain there for several days. It was for- 
merly the practice to throw in pieces of stale meat or other refuse, but, 
although the crabs ate it, they died more quickly than if nothing was 
given them. 
Handling and disposition of crabs.—The boxes in which crabs are 
shipped are made of thin pine boards and contain from two to three 
trays. Occasionally smaller boxes without any trays are also used. 
By means of the trays the lower layer of crabs may be examined 
without removing the upper ones, as was necessary in the boxes orig- 
inally used. The present boxes, which cost from 30 to 40 cents each, 
