252 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
by count, and cash is paid for them. Should the smack belong to a dealer this 
practically ends the tinaucial side of the transaction so far as the captain is concerned, 
as the crew are paid wages. Should the smack belong to a person other than a 
dealer, which is frequently the case, he either makes an agrement with some dealer 
to run for him exclusively at a certain price or commission, or else buys from the 
fishermen and then sells at either Rockland or Portland. This method of buying 
lobsters is somewhat hazardous, as the market price sometimes changes sharply when 
the smack is out of reach of telegraphic communication. 
LOBSTER OARS. 
Lobsters must be marketed in a live or boiled condition ; and as fishermen can 
get better prices for them alive than boiled, each fisherman generally has a live-car in 
which to hold them until they can be sold. These cars are usually oblong, rectangular 
boxes, with open seams or numerous small holes to permit the free circulation of the 
water. They are of various sizes, according to the needs of the fishermau, a good 
average being about G feet long by 4 feet wide and about 2 feet deep. The door is 
placed on the top. They are usually moored close to the shore during the fishing 
season, the rest of the time being hauled up on the beach. 
The dealers’ cars are very similar to those used by the fishermen, only much 
larger. They generally average about 30 feet in length, 12 feet in width, and 3 feet in 
depth, with capacity for from 2,000 to 3,000 lobsters. The inner part of this car is 
usually divided off into five transverse compartments by means of a framework inside. 
Each compartment is provided with two large doors entering from the top, one door 
on each side of the middle line of the car. These cars cost the dealers about $70 
each. The life of one of these cars is about five or six years, although at the end of 
about three years it is generally necessary to replace the sides of the car on account 
of the ravages of a dock worm which is quite abundant along the Maine coast. 
When new the top of the car is usually about a foot above the water, but as it gets 
water-soaked it sinks down until it is even with the water, aud some of the older 
cars have to be buoyed up with kegs at each end, placed iuside, to prevent them from 
sinking below the surface. These cars are moored alongside the docks of the dealers 
at Portland and Rockland and other points. 
Mr. J. R. Burns, of Friendship, has invented and patented a new style of car. 
The inside is divided into a series of compartments by horizontal and vertical partitions 
of slats, wire netting, or any material which will permit the free circulation of the 
water. Each compartment has a chute extending down into it from the top, by means 
of which the lobsters can be put in and their food given them. There are also 
conveniently arranged openings, with doors, through which the lobsters may be 
removed when desired. These cars usually average about 35 feet in length, 18 feet in 
width, aud G feet iu depth, and have a capacity for about 5,000 lobsters each. They 
are in use at Rockland, Friendship, Tremont, and Jonesport. They preveut the 
lobsters from huddling together aud thus killing each other by their own weight. 
METHODS OF SHIPPING, WHOLESALE TRADE, ETC. 
As lobsters can not be shipped or preserved in a frozen state they must be shipped 
either alive or boiled. About nine-tenths of the lobsters caught in Maine waters are 
shipped in the live state. The principal shipping centers are Portland, Rockland, and 
