368 
AMEEIOA^^ AGRIOULTUEIST. 
[September, 
Salt-Water Farming. 
One day this season we were strolling on the 
beach which extends along the east end of Long 
Island. A gray haze hung upon the great Atlantic, 
‘ THERE SHE BLOWS 
■whose surges broke at our feet, and the sand-hills 
which shut out the shore-ward view fairly blazed 
in the sun. The arbors built for the shelter of the 
summer visitors, -who make the beaches fashion¬ 
able for a portion of the year, were dry and brown. 
There were some boats drawn far up on the sand, 
but no sign of human life was in view save what 
we provided in our soli¬ 
tary person tramping 
along on the wet beach , 
within the wash of the 
tide. Suddenly a man 
appeared on one of the 
sand-hills, close to a 
stout pine trunk which 
was planted on its sum¬ 
mit. The man glanced 
seaward, sharply and 
swiftly. Then he ran up 
the post, to which cleats 
were nailed, ■with the 
agility of a practical 
seaman. With his arm 
crooked about the post 
at the very summit, he 
shaded his eyes and 
looked at the sea again. 
Following the direction 
of his glance, ■we fancied 
we could see a dark spot 
far off shore. As we 
looked, it vanished and 
a white spot took its 
place. A shrill voice, 
which seemed to come 
from the skies, rang in 
our ears: “There she 
blow’S ! ” — When we 
looked at the pole, the 
man upon its summit 
had his coat off and was 
waving it like mad, and 
within ten minutes time 
the solitary shore was all 
alive. Men in their shirt¬ 
sleeves, some even bare-headed, came swarming over 
the sand dunes and through the breaks in them, all 
with oars on their shoulders. The big boats were 
hauled down to the water’s edge; from queer little 
huts like dog kennels, erected on the hillocks, 
harpoons, and tubs, and coils of line were brought 
out. Sitting under one of the arbors, we watched 
a whale-hunt to its end, which was the towing of 
the dead prize ashore, after an hour’s hard battle. 
The whale was not brought ashore exactly at the 
spot from which the hunters had embarked, but 
some half a mile down the beach. There we found 
an enormous iron pot, mounted on a weather¬ 
beaten but still substantial brick furnace, on the 
crown of a low sand bluff. Having been beached 
opposite the furnace, the whale was hauled ■svell 
up out of reach of the tide by powerful tackles at¬ 
tached to stout posts, and the captors, aided by 
other men and boys who had come down to watch 
the progress of the chase, proceeded to cut it up. 
The furnace blazed all night, sending a red flare 
over the desolate beach, and crimsoning the clond 
of heavy smoke the night wind tossed and rifted 
into fastastic forms. Around it the whalemen ■ 
gathered, relieving one .another in attending to the 
pot and feeding the lire, and spinning yarns. A 
curious gathering they formed indeed. Though 
every one had proved himself an expert fisherman 
and seaman, every one was a fai-mer, too. They 
represented that singular and interesting class, of 
which the eastern coast of the United States and 
the ea.stern end of Long Island especially, boast so 
many and such splendid examples—the “ salt¬ 
water farmers ” as they are appropriately called. 
Tillers of both land and sea, their industry makes 
little distinction between the elements from which 
they draw their double harvest. They are as much 
at home with their feet on the frail bottoms of 
their boats, as on the soil they dig, and their hands 
are as ready at the oar as at the plow. Brave, 
energetic, tirelessly diligent, they live laborious 
lives, and deserve all the honor that belongs to 
honest toilers. The readiness with which the salt¬ 
water farmers exchange their labors from shore to 
sea, is explained by the fact, that on our eastern 
coast most bo}’s begin life, with some years om 
board the whalers or the fishing craft that dis¬ 
tinguish the section. It they do not go a couple 
of long voyages on whalers, they make annual 
comes. Formerly the salt-water farmers found 
considerable profit in the menhaden fishery. They 
seined the fish and tried them out on shares, but of 
late years this business has been monopolized by 
steamers fitted out for this purpose. There re¬ 
mains to the salt-water farmers, however, the cap¬ 
ture of food fishes and also an occasional whale. 
When the blue-fish or other finny prizes begin to 
“ run,’’ that is, when they swarm into the con¬ 
tiguous waters with the season, the double industry 
THE MIDNIGHT HARVEST OF THE SEA .—Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
trips with the fishing fleet, working on the farm 
between seasons. Such of them as eventually 
settle to agricultural pursuits, continue to utilize 
their marine accomplishments to add to their in¬ 
A SALT-WATER F.VRMER. 
begins ashore. The farmers own large boats and 
good seines, and lose no opportunity of using 
them. Their captures supply the whole neighbor¬ 
hood and often add materially to the comforts of 
the captors. While there are many fine and pro¬ 
ductive farms upon the coast, there are far more 
which would afford their cultivators a poor living 
if the ever-changing sea did not eke out the par¬ 
simonious gifts of the poor, sandy soil. 
The sea not only helps the farmer’s purse, but it 
helps the land. The refuse of the fisheries goes to 
fertilize the soil. Though 
the competition of the 
steamers has destroyed 
the menhaden fishery on 
a small scale for its oil, 
the farmers still watch 
for the fish, net them 
and use them as manure. 
The abundant supply of 
food and other fishalong 
our coast is one of 
the standard subjects of 
wonder and admiration 
with the foreigner. The 
deep is populated with 
untold millions of living 
creatures useful to man. 
Nature, which gave the 
farmer a comparatively 
sterile soil to extract a 
living from, seems to 
have added the gift of 
the ocean as a compen¬ 
sation for the shortcom¬ 
ings of the land. The 
farmer-fisheries are con¬ 
structed on a simple and 
effective system. Whale¬ 
boats are owned in com¬ 
mon, and their prizes 
are shared among their 
owners. Fishing boats 
are commonly kept on 
the same principle, and 
the owners of several 
farms thus share in the 
benefits of each suc¬ 
cessful fishery. Signal 
posts, such as the one from which we saw the 
discovery of the wdiale, are planted at certain 
intervals .along the shore. An announcement 
of a prize in sight from one of these, calls all 
I 
