NOTES ON THE CRAB FISHERY. 
105 
has uot undergone moulting. The fishermen and shippers, as a rule, can determine 
with a facility and accuracy that is puzzling to the uninitiated, if a crab has recently 
changed its shell, and, if uot, about how many days will elapse before such a change 
occurs. 
2. Origin and development of the industry. — The practice of taking soft and “peeler” 
crabs, impounding the latter until after the shedding process and then shipping them 
to market, is of comparatively recent origin at Orisfield. It began on a very small 
scale about fifteen years ago. Mr. John Landon and a few others, who inaugurated 
this enterprise in order to utilize the large supply of crabs in this section, laid them- 
selves open to great ridicule and acquired the ignominious title of “crab-breeders.” It 
was only a short time, however, before the business grew in popular favor, many more 
people became directly interested, and the fishery progressed uninterruptedly. 
3. Present condition of the fishery. — Few persons outside of Orisfield are aware of the 
great proportions to which the crab fishery of that place has attained in recent years. 
Since 1880, when the yield of the entire State was much less than that of the present 
output of Oi'isfield alone, there has been a rapid increase, so that now the capture and 
handling of soft and “ peeler ” crabs is the most important occupation of the people 
during nearly half the year, affording steady, profitable, and inarduons employment to 
large numbers of persons who would be otherwise unemployed at this time. The 
limit of growth has not yet been reached, and it is probable that the near future will 
witness even a more extensive development than was made in 1888, when the increase 
over the previous year amounted to about 13 per cent, in the number of persons em- 
ployed, 78 per cent, in the number of crabs taken, and 81 per cent, in the value of the 
catch to the fishermen. 
4. Fishing grounds . — The Little Annemessex Eiver, on which Orisfield is situated, 
is the principal ground now frequented by the fishermen, although the waters border- 
ing on the marshy laud on either side of the mouth of this river are also visited. 
So long as the supply is maintained the crabs will be taken in the localities nearest 
the market, and up to the present time the large majority of the crabbers have found 
but little occasion to go to very distant grounds. 
A fair proportion of the crabs which are handled by some of the Orisfield shippers 
are caught in the waters adjacent to Tangier and Smith’s Islands, where the crabs 
abound, but where there is no demand for them. They are therefore taken to Orisfield, 
either by the men who catch them, or, as is more frequently the case, in collecting 
boats sent out by the dealers. 
Should the time ever come when crabs become scarce in the immediate vicinity of 
Orisfield, there will be no lack of suitable grounds at no very great distance. The 
marshy islands in Ohesapeake Bay off Orisfield are available, as are other favorable 
localities up and down the shore. The Dammeron marshes, on the western side of 
the bay, immediately opposite Orisfield, should be mentioned in this connection. They 
are considered the best crabbing grounds in this entire section of the Ohesapeake, but 
are seldom visited, owing to their distance from shipping centers. The few fares that 
have been taken there of late years have been very large, but there is danger of losing 
a considerable part of the catch, because of the liability of soft crabs to die when ex- 
posed in a boat for the length of time required to sail to Orisfield. It is thought that 
the introduction of a comparatively inexpensive class of small steam-vessels, as sug 
