356 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
A number of other methods Lave been proposed for fastening the shells of oysters 
together, such as inclosing them in a batter of plaster of paris or similar material,* 
securing a rivet of soft iron through the idb or bill,t inserting a plug of hard wood or 
other suitable material between the shells immediately in the rear of the hmge,|: etc. 
A railroad car for the special transportation of live oysters, invented by Mr. A. 
E. Stilwell, of Kansas City, Mo., has been used to some extent during the last year 
or two on the Kansas City, Port Artliur and Gulf Kailroad. The interior of the car 
is 34 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 4 feet high, the space being divided into four compart- 
ments, each of which has two ventilators in the top through which the oysters are 
loaded, and two unloading spaces in tlie side. The tloor and sides of the car are 
constructed of 3-iuch Avhite pine, calked and pitched in the manner of ships, so as to 
make the compartments water-tight. These compartments arc first nearly tilled with 
oysters, and then sufficient sea water is added to cover them. 
SHIPPING LIVE CRABS. 
Hard crabs require little care in packing and shipping. They arc placed, buck 
up, in barrels or boxes, usually without ice if the Aveather be cool, and covered Avith 
cloth. Little mortality occurs if their destination be reached in two or three days. 
But during warm weather a block of ice, Aveighiug 5 15 pounds, is placed in the top 
of the barrel and separated from the crabs by a double handful of wet seaweed. The 
receiiits of hard crabs in the markets are quite extensive, the supply being obtained 
at Amrious points along the coast, but principally from the shores of Chesapeake Bay. 
From that bay about 75,000 barrels are marketed annually, each barrel holding from 
200 to 300 crabs, Avhich weigh about 75 pounds. 
Much greater care is required in handling soft-shell crabs. This industry origi- 
nated about 1873, and it has reached its greatest development at Orisfield, Md., but 
supplies are received also from New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and 
various other points. The soft-shell and “peeler” crabs are caught together, the 
former being shipped at once and the latter impounded until after the shedding 
process and then shipped to market. The present trade amounts to about 16,000,000 
crabs annually, worth 2 or 3 cents at the lishing port, and from 3 to 10 cents each in 
the retail markets. The peeler crabs are impounded in floats made of light plank and 
scantling, with plain board bottoms and latticed sides. The size of the floats varies 
somewhat, but most of those at Crisfield are 20 feet long, 3 to 5 feet wide, and 15 inches 
deep, with a projecting ledge at halt their height corresiiondiug to their water line. 
The average A^alue is about |2, with a capacity for 300 or 400 crabs each. They are 
frequently inclosed by a board fence, Avhich serves as a breakwater. The floats are 
visited three or four times daily, and the crabs that have shed since the last visit are 
taken out and at once marketed. 
The following, in reference to the live-crab business, taken from an article by 
Hugh M. Smith, in the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1889, is of 
interest in this connection: 
The one factor Avhich, more than any other, tends to reduce the profits of the shippers and indi- 
rectly the receij)ts of the fishermen, is the high death-rate among the imi>ounded crabs. Owing to 
the injuries which many crabs receive in being caught and handled, and, in a measure, to the severity 
of the shedding process, a comparatively large number of crabs die after being purchased by the dealers, 
* See Letters Patent No. 431212, dated July 1, 1890. 
tSee Letters Patent No. 453144, dated May 26, 1891. 
tSee Letters Patent No. 459220, dated September 8,. 1891, 
