234 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
sloops employed in tonging is not large; and as these boats are not peculiar to the 
oyster industry of the Chesapeake, but are of the same type as employed in the fish- 
eries of other localities, a description of them is unnecessary in this connection. 
The average number of vessels and boats employed in tonging during the last five 
seasons has been about 5,000, with a total valuation of $410,000. Of these, 60, valued 
at $30,000, measure over 5 tons. Generally the tonging boats are owned by the men 
using them; but in some instances a large number are owned by oyster marketmen 
and others who hire them at so much per day to the fishermen. The license system 
of 1892 has had a beneficial effect in encouraging the tongmen to own their boats. 
The oyster regulations do not authorize the issuing of tonging licenses to those boats 
having a scraping or dredging license. 
The tongs used in Maryland are probably larger than those employed elsewhere in 
America, excepting in the adjoiniug State, Yirginia. They have from ten to eighteen 
teeth on each side and the shafts are from 12 to 28 feetin length. The large ones are some- 
times improperly designated “rakes.” The tongs hold from one-half peck to three- 
fourths of a bushel of material, but as a large quantity of the rubbish of the oyster 
beds is also taken up at the same time, the number of oysters obtained at each lift 
is usually very much smaller. 
In the limits of Somerset, Calvert, and St. Mary counties, and along the bay 
shores, a number of “deep-water tongs” are employed. These have no shafts, but are 
much like two dredges joined together as shaft tongs are. They are hauled by ropes, 
the labor being generally lightened by the use of a small winder attached to the mast. 
These implements have been employed to a large extent only about eight years. 
The tongmen . — The crew of a boat engaged in tonging consists of from one to three 
persons, one of whom is frequently a boy, whose duty it is to attend to the culling, 
throwing the shells and small oysters back into the water. The total number of per- 
sons employed in this branch of the oyster fishery duringthe last five years has averaged 
about 11,000, of whom about 1,500 were boys. Usually the men in one boat work 
on shares, while the boys are employed on wages varying from 50 cents to $1.25 per 
day. One effect of the present or “ 1892 license regulation” has been to decrease the 
average number of persons tonging from one boat and to increase the number of boys 
employed in the fishery. 
The tongmen live near the shores adjacent to the reefs and are all citizens of 
Maryland, non-residents not being permitted to engage in this branch of the fishery. 
They are also mostly natives of the State, there probably not being 100 tongmen in 
the whole State not born and raised there, and about one-fourth of them are colored. 
All are not entirely dependent on oystering for support, the greater number engaging 
also in agricultural pursuits, while many of the remaining find occasional employment 
in the various industries of the bay counties. Most of them own small homes and an 
acre or so of ground, which constitutes a garden. 
There are few workmen in America more independent than these. At almost any 
time during the season a toiigman can in a good working day catch from 4 to 12 bushels 
of oysters, for which there is always a demand almost at his door. Then having suf- 
ficient to supply his temporary needs he usually takes things easy. While some are 
indolent and work only when compelled by necessity, yet as a class they compare 
favorably in industry and morals with any other body of men similarly situated. 
The annual incomes of the tongmen range from $100 to $800, averaging about 
