Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-28
THE MOSS-HUNTERS.
A Curious Industry Carried On Along Coney-
Island Beach.
PHILADELPHIA North Americana

philadelphia North Americana
"Found it," asked short, odd. look
ing old man, with a tin can over his
shoulder, of person who was wander
ing along the Coney-Island beach.
Pound WHAT" queried the latter.
why, what you're huntin' for"
"I'm not hunting for anything said
the other.
"Nor ] either" said the old man,
"but that's what somebody asked me
awhile ago. They said ] looked as if
was trying to find a gold-mine. After
all, everybody that walks along shore
rather expects to find something that
has been washed up; it's natural.
| come down every year." con-
tinued the old man, and col
lect a few odds and ends, chief
" for the children. Shells, big
neck clans, make famous things for
them to dig with, and then my girl,
she's in the moss business. Never
heard of the moss business? Why,
bless you, my oldest girl makes s. or
sc a week pressing moss. You see
come here and Rockaway about once a
week in the season, and 60 browsin'
round and pick up the best moss | can
find. You see it's generally all mixed
up in sand, and most folks wouldn't
notice it, and those that did wouldn't
think it was worth collectin'."
"I'ye found few pieces to-day"
and the speaker opened his can and took
out a handful Of rich green, purple, and
red weed. Look rich, don't they?
But they look better after my girl
Nancy takes them in hand. How is it
done? Why, easy enough. She takes
and washes them in fresh water, and
then trims them up in just the shape
she wants them, and puts on wash or
diluted gum arabic; then they are
spread on paper, and if they are deli
cate they are picked out into shape
under or just at the surface of the
water with a needle. Then she takes
them out, puts a piece Of clean linen
over them, then another piece of paper,
and then puts the whole thing in be-
tween two boards and presses it in
press. In twenty-four hours it's done,
and the moss is dry and pressed into
the paper, so that you can pass your
finger right over it without feelln' 1t,
and the color never fades it's joy
forever. She then sets them on stiff
paper, puts on the scientific name
and where her old father found
them-habita, she calls it-and they
are ready for the market. Some she
sells to schools others are bound up
into books; and she's got fine collec-
ton, ! can assure you. She sells good
many TO curiosity dealers, and SO her
work and mine goes Ill over the coun-
try. | guess we're about the only ones
right in the business. Nancy's going
to branch out next winter. She has a
friend in Nassau and another in Cali
fornia they are goin' to send her moss,
so she will have specimens from widely
different parts Of the world.
ats astonishin'," said the old col.
lector, "how little folks know about
the ordinary things along shore. Now
dare say you think that all the mos:
: I've got here is vegetable?"
Isn't itg" asked the listener, t.
humor his new acquaintance.
"Why, Lord bless you no. Ineyel
, knew it myself till one day Nancy said
Il wonder if it hurts these animals Il
!; crush them?' Plants you mean,' SAT-
/. No, they're animals" she said
= and she showed me the little cells tn
little critters lived in-polygons, sh
u called them--and tell you it takes a
J, expert to tell plant from animal j
a moss they all look alike to me. TAX
1t the sand-collars you often find here
}, what do people think they are?
u heard one man say they were the prir
J. Of a horses hoof hardened. Al
e other thought they were only sand
T. but If you hold one up to the light an
Il look through it you can see whi
y it is in minute it's the eggs Of u
'e she'll called the natica. You kno
20 these black four-eornered objects thi
&c wash ashore? Well, they are Gale
~ sea-barrows, and lots Of people thin
a they are fruit of some kind; but the
nc are skate eggs, and nothing else. 70
nv see the folks that come down here mo
IN don't have the time or the inclinatit
nc to hunt cut these things. The beau'
US Of a soft clam is in the cooking, and
nc Nc the Little Neck in the way it is serve
IA They don't care about the habits Of &
&C. creature. 4