56 
EXHIBIT E 
[Extracts from the Report of the Engineer of the Commission on 
the Propagation and Protection of the Crab] 
Rapip GROWTH OF THE CRAB INDUSTRY 
Prior to the year 1873 there was no actual demand for crabs 
outside of Maryland. Soft crabs were eaten in Crisfield some 
time before there was any thought of shipping them to the cities. 
A few were at first sold to express agents and railroad employees 
and the crab gradually found its way to game dealers in Phila- 
delphia and other cities. 
In less than four decades the people of the country have been | 
educated to eat crabs in every conceivable way. With the increas- 
ing demand for soft crabs and crab meat came improved shipping 
and catching methods. Boxes constructed of thin pine boards 
contain from two to three trays. By means of the trays the lower 
layers of crabs may be examined without removing the upper ones, 
as was necessary in the boxes originally used. ‘The work of pack- 
ing crabs for shipment is begun by covering the bottom of the 
box to a depth of from two to three inches with seaweed which 
has been thoroughly picked over to remove all lumps. On this 
soft bed the crabs are packed in a nearly vertical position so close 
together that they cannot move out of place. Seaweed or moss is 
then placed over them, and over this is placed a layer of fine 
crushed ice. By this means soft crabs are shipped as far north as 
Canada and throughout the Middle West. Crisfield is the center 
of the soft-crab industry and it is a common sight to see seven 
carloads of crabs leave daily from that point. Many thousands 
of dollars pass through the Crisfield banks weekly to pay the 
people engaged in this industry. 
The hand nets and bare-legged men and boys who sought the 
crabs in shoal creeks and around the shores now constitute but a 
small percentage of the catchers. The dead-rise skipjacks by the 
hundred sail over the waters where the bottoms are covered with 
grass. Scrapes, similar in shape to those used to take oysters, 
but having smooth bars without teeth and long bag-shaped nets, 
are dragged over the grassy bottoms, and the shedder and peeler 
