368 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
fishermen or farmers. The fishing is chiefly carried ou from Barker’s Landing and ' 
Bower’s Beach and in the vicinity of those places. 
At Barker’s Landing, where the fishing is mostly done for a factory, the business 
in 1888 was followed from six “ lighters ” or skiff-like boats, 12 to 16 feet long, and i 
operated by eight men, all told. When the wind is “ offshore,” these boats go up I 
and down the shore and secure crabs on the beaches. Two large scows, 42 and 30 
feet long, respectively, are sent out to bring the crabs from the lighters to the factory, j 
so that time may not be lost by the boats engaged in catching the crabs. 
At Bower’s Beach there were only four professional Crab fishermen in 1888, but 
they were joined by thirty-five farmers, farm hands, and wood-bhoppers. The fisher- ‘ 
men employed 25-foot scows; the farmers, farm hands, wood-choppers, and 'other 
semi-professional fishermen at the place made half of their catch in boats and half in ' 
wagons. In addition to ^ the quantities sold to be made into fertilizer, about 25,000 
crabs are annually utilized as food for hogs. A portion of the catch is also disposed i 
of to vessels sent out by factory operators in New Jersey. At Banckenburg Creek, i 
IJ miles below Bower’s Beach, there is a small factory; eighteen men, using nine 
scows, were employed there as fishermen in 1888. In the same locality, about fifteen : 
farmers regularly drive down to the beach in their wagons and get crabs for their own j 
use or for sale to the factories. 
The average annual catch to a scow in recent years has been about 7,000 crabs, i 
The farmers and others do not usually take more than a few thousand each. * , 
THE OUTPUT IN DELAWARE. I , 
Accurate figures for this fishery in Delaware covering the year 1890 are not avail-1 
able, but the catch has been estimated at 275,000 crabs. The yearly decline since 1880^ ■, 
has been marked, and is no doubt suggestive of what would result in New Jersey were I 
the annual increase in apparatus discontinued. 
Tears. 
Number of 
crabs. 
Value to 
fishermen. 
1880 
900, 000 
$2, 700 
1887 
341,000 
682 
1888 
320, 000 
640 
1890 
275, 000 
550 
THE FERTILIZER FACTORIES. 
Three factories designed for preparing king-crabs for fertilizer were in operation 
on Delaware Bay in 1887 and 1888. Two of these were in Delaware and one in New 
Jersey. The buildings were comparatively inexpensive frame structures, with a com-J; 
bined value of $4,100. The factory hands numbered eighteen. ' 
The factories in Delaware were located at Banckenburg Creek and near Barker’s ; 
Landing. The one at the former place was quite small, the building being only 16 
feet square. Beneath was a furnace, by means of which the crabs were dried. About i 
200,000 crabs are the usual annual quota of this factory. The factory buildingj 
near Barker’s Landing was 24 by 60 feet in size. It was provided with a steam-mill; 
in which the crabs were ground while green and then mixed with sodium sulphate ; 
