Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-09
THRRAPIN FARMS.
The Industry Successfully Carried on in
New Jersey.

Ihe Industry Successfully Carried on IN
New Jersey.
Philadelphia Times.
OF late years the demand for terrapin
has become so great that at times it is
impossible to fill it. Some Jerseymen
finally originated the idea of terrapin
farming, and among the first to engage
in the business was Ex-senator Gardi-
ner of Atlantic City. He damned up a
cove in the Thoroughfare near his house
| and stocked it with terrapin found On
the locality. After years of practice and
experiment he now emphatically says
that terrapin farming pays In fact, 1t is
| now the genial statesman's money-mak-
| ing hobby, as he finds a ready market
| for the product of his farm in this city.
| There are several kinds of terrapin,
and the good, gray senator does not raise
| the best variety, unless he has recently
| stocked his cove with the celebrated dia-
mond backs, which are obtainable only
in Chesapeake bay. STILL the market for
any kind of terrapin is usually good.
Ben West New Yorker, has perhaps
| the most successful terrapin farm IN
| New Jersey, at Pleasure Bay, near Long
| Branch A number of years ago he set
| off a cove in the South Shrewsbury river
and placed across its broad mouth net
| work of strong wire, so that the tides
| might ebb and flow through 1t without
| making an opening large enough Tor
turtle to get through. Then from the
| Chesapeake he received crate after crate
| of diminutive diamond backs Tor SEED.
| These were dumped into the cove and left
| to grow up.
The little fellows waxed fat on diet of
| mud and finely chopped fish, and in two
| years time had acquired decidedly
| aldermanic obesity. During the winter
| the terrapin laid themselves away In
| their muddy little beds at the bottom OF
| the cove and spent the summer in multi
| plying. They were evidently skilled
mathematician, and increased at arrate
| calculated to prove that they had disre-
| garded the time-honored double rule OF
| three" and gone into Figuring" by whole
| sale.
Time passed, and the calculating Ben
| reaped his harvest, and has been reaping
| it annually ever since. The harvest time
| on the terrapin farm is in the fall. Early
in the fall the finest and latest terrapln
are captured and placed in a warm Gel
lar. There they live for weeks, and al
though left without food, persist IN get
ting fat and fatter until the chill blasts
of winter usher in the market time. 1t is
no nonsense to be sent down into dark
cellar to capture fugitive terrapin that
may at any moment adhere to your legs
or fingers with more than bulldog tenaci-
ty Still, the work of capturing the crea-
lures is easy to a man who under
stands it.
with a lantern hung where its yellow
| chickering's will partly Danish the dark
ness man with sort of alpenstock IN
his hand hunts the terrapin in out-of-
the-way places. With a crooked staff he
deftly tumbles them over on their packs
and places them in a crate that VIII hoidI
six or eight heavyweights. When the
terrapin is on his back he is disarmed,
| for his fat prevents his turning his head
back far enough to catch hold OF ms
cantor His legs, too, are so short that
ne can't get his feet on the ground TO en-
able him to turn over. When the crate
is well filled it is covered and expressed
to the purchaser.
Diamond backs in season are worth
from So to So EACH according to weight
When the stock in the cellar is snippeu
the slumbering terrapin in the mud at
the cove's bottom are rude1y awakened.
Men go in boats and, armed with long
| crooks, prod into the mud to locate the
| turtles. When the crook strikes SHELF
| the work gets exciting. terrapin, no
| matter how torpid, instantly regains his
usual activity when an iron strikes ms
mud as fast as he can. The fisherman
| then tries to catch him under the luke,
| or she'll with the crook, and SO raise the
struggling terrapin into the boat. Inc
man with the crook soon gets the hang
| of the business, and but few terrapin
ever escape him when once they are 10
Gated on the bottom.
When landed In the boat the savage
creatures are laid on their backs In
locker, and there they pass the time
away foaming at the mouth, until tney
are consigned to the crate. These Usher
men handle fierce turtles with wonderful
skill The tails are regarded as natural
handles, and to grasp them is the frst
thing necessary in completing their cap
ture. Should the fisherman be clumsy
tAaf 1.~sf af<- NH
chew his fingers. To monkey with ~
terrapin is even more dangerous than to
shake hands with a lobster, or to tickle
a crab under his chin for when the ter
rapin gets a grip on anything IL holus SO
that the jaws have to be priced apart
before a release can be effected. linen
often there will be left but remnant of
a finger, for this turtles head Is nearly
all mouth.
1t is, in fact yawning ohasm, with
swinging walls, the hinges of which are
as strong as iron, and the stranger who
fools around the terrapin's front door Is
sure to be taken in.
The average marketable terrapin
weighs from eight to twelve pounds. At
| ter two or three years growth they IN
crease in size slowly, but get heavier rap
| idly With age the fish becomes more
| and more firm and solid, and it frequent
ly happens that two terrapins of the
same size will vary two or three pounds
in weight. The diamond-braced terrapin
seldom grows very large, and In size can
be readily discounted by the fresh water
"loggerhead."
When a terrapin attains great size its
flesh becomes very tough and is only
available In the kitchen for making
soups. Naturalists say that the diamond
backed terrapin never lives more tnan 70
or 30 years. while his relative, the land
tortoise, has been known to be "as young
as everi' at 100 years. Some men along
the Chesapeake claim that they can &C
curately tell terrapin's age by certain
lines upon it's shell that indicate the
growth of the armor year by year. The
men who raise them in New Jersey scout
this idea, but none of them, SO far as
known, have ever tested the matter
Terrapin farming, If successfully con,
Quoted, is a money making business, and
paws all the way from 800 to 500 per cent
per annum on the investment. Once In
while, however, bad luck comes, the ter
rapin freeze or the waters become inn
pregnated with poisonous matter, and, In
consequence, there is an upturning OF ter
rapin toes. However, the few men en-
gagged in the novel business in New Jer-