494 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Before the use of ice we put about 5 dozen crabs ina box. After the introduction 
of ice we put in about 12 dozen, as we then used a larger box. Crabs were shipped 
in these large boxes for many years until the present style of box came into use in 
1884. The latter were first used by Mr. Isaac Tawes, of the firm of Tawes & Co. In 
the boxes originally used the crabs were arranged in layers, but not in trays, so that 
if you desired to get at the bottom layer of crabs it was necessary to unpack all of 
those above. You could not get at them by removing the trays, as at present. 
We did not ship any crabs to Baltimore for two or three years, but confined our 
shipments to Philadelphia and New York. One shipment was sent to Pittsburg in 
the interim, but no returns were received for them, as they did not appear to be 
salable there. 
Scoop nets were probably used in taking crabs four or five years before the intro- 
duction of scrapes. L. Cooper Dize was the first man to use scrapes. The kind first 
used were nothing but old oyster dredges of the smallest size. A cotton bag was 
soon afterwards substituted for the chain bag, this change making them much lighter 
and better. Scrapes came into general use the next year after their introduction. 
I was about the first crabber, and also the first to buy and ship. The principal 
reason why I stopped buying was on account of having to work on Sundays, which 
is the busiest day of the entire week. 
The shedding of crabs was begun here almost immediately after the first ship- 
ments. The same style of floats was used as now. In our first attempt at shedding 
we built about five floats, each 10 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 inches deep. We 
caught a lot of small hard crabs and put them in the floats to turn to peelers. Dur- 
ing that night a strong wind from the northwest arose and when we went to the 
floats in the morning we found that every one of the little crabs had shed _ its “‘fing- 
ers,’’ and we called them ‘‘buffaloes.’”’ They were of no use whatever. 
Other attempts have also been made to shed hard crabs, but they have always 
resulted in a failure. We built apound and put the crabs inside. Our intention was 
to hold the crabs in this pound until they became peelers and then take them out and 
put them in floats to shed, but it necessitated so many handlings of the crabs before 
they became peelers that the experiment was considered a failure and discontinued. 
The first crab pounds were constructed by Mr. Severn Riggin and myself. They 
consisted of posts with boards nailed lengthwise on them, and laths nailed vertically 
on the boards, close enough together to keep the crabs from getting through. The 
first pounds were circular in shape, while those at present in use are square or nearly 
so, and are not so closely built, as their only purpose now is to prevent the floats 
being washed away by strong winds. 
THE HARD-CRAB INDUSTRY. 
Oxtord and Cambridge are the most important hard-crab centers in 
the state, though the industry is prosecuted extensively in many other 
localities, including Crisfield, where, however, it is overshadowed by 
the more important soft-crab industry. At Oxford, with the excep- 
tion of about one-third of the catch shipped alive during July and 
August, when the crabs are in their best condition, the hard-crab 
vatch is utilized at factories, where the meat is extracted and shipped 
in tin buckets. This applies also to several other localities in Talbot 
County, which is the hard-crab county of the state. At Cambridge, 
with the exception of the crabs used by one firm which extracts the 
meat, the catch is shipped alive. 
