The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-10
LOBSTERS.
Prices Have been Going Up for Years-
The Prospects of Artificial Production.

The Prospects OF ARTIFICIAL Production.
HOLSTERS were sold in this city forty years ago
at 81 a hundredweight Wholesale, and at retail
for six to eight cents a pound. The supply came
then chiefly from Maine and Cape COD. and tho
Holsters were brought here in fishing smacks
fitted with wells. The lobster season ended
about Thanksgiving time. and New York had
practically no Holsters through the winter.
Now New York gets Holsters from New Bruins
wick and Nova Scotia and all along the New
England coast and around into Long Island
Sound. The city gets some Holsters. though not
SO many as formerly from the East and North
rivers and the bay and some from the Jersey
coast; but while these in the aggregate amount
to a considerable number. yet they are not
enough to make an important figure in the mar
ket supply.
The Holsters are now gathered at various ship
ping points and brought to this city packed in
barrels and boxes. by rail and steamboat. New
York gets Holsters now the year round. but Or
dinarily Tower in winter than at other seasons.
the supply, however, at all times depending
largely on the weather and other conditions.
tended, Holsters have constantly grown scarcer
and higher IN price. They retail now at Is cents
they have been higher and lower; but IL cents
has been about the ruling price. This is about
the same AS the price Of last year, but while
there has been no material advance since then,
dealers expect that with the course of time the
price OF Holsters will still c~ontinue to advance.
hC uNohS IA INV 10 uho w t"' HiSaA'S i"-
creased demand of n much larger and con-
stantly increasing population. without n corre-
scarcity Is due also in some measure to overIish-
ing and the catching Of small Holsters to supply
States in whose waters Holsters are taken. there
are laws against the catching of Holsters under
certain sizes. but these laws arc to a greater or
less extent ignored.
To add to the supply efforts are making in
S ser,HSs f It is said that tho p 9ne Greatest ioD Measure sFt Of
success thus far attained in this undertaking
has been reached in Eewfoundland: There is a
lobster hatchery at Cold Spring IIarbor, Long
Island. in this State, conducted by the New
York State Fish, Game. and Forest Commits
sion; but the largest operations In lobster Gull
Woods Hole by, the United states, Government
under the d%ireetion Of the United States Fish
Commission. The work is carried on here upon
a large scale. As many as seventy millions Of
from this hatchery In II year, and its operations
are constantly, being enlarged and extended.
have been matched out in the Matching appa-
ratus the young Holsters are put out into the
SPsni w sat one II another .n ! were Hs s TsR' stage 'Ssst OF It. .e ss.
is,ence the little lobster is less than one third
of an inch in length; 1t has q thin shell. but 1t
they would attack and kill ono another just The
same II they could, and so they are liberated in
the little Holsters are subject to many other
vicissitudcs. The big, lobster is Liable to be
danger o. CssSs sa'sR ~ is cwS Kind;
Is eaton DS many klluS OI HhHeS anu
by crabs and other crustaceans, and
It's life Is In danger from storms which
may pound IT. against rocks or wash It up
on the shore. The chances that the young lob
ster will survive the earlier stage OF its exist
ence are very small, and the number OF those
that will reach maturity out of the 20. 900, 900
tionately very limited. A single female lobster
may have attached TO II $4,000 to 20, 900 eggs,
and these might all be stripped off and eaten by
a a single ., ssl, or one snsy WW!S Sss BE- 3So eaten n. BY som.
out to do is at least To hatch the egg and ac-
tually to start the lobster In the first stage Of its
existence.
The lobster is an animal of slow growth. In
its first year II might not attain u length of moro
absolutely. IL is believed that it takes four aud u
half to Ave years for. u lobster to attain a length
OF ten Inches. The lobster-hRtchin operations
at Moods Hole have not been carried on for a
SUFFICIENT length OF time as yet to make il pos
sible to determine positively whether they are
practically successful, or not, but it Is said by
men living in the vicinity Woods Hole, which
is in Vineyard Sound, that increased numbers
of marketable Holsters are now being taken In
Vineyard Sound and adjacent waters.
The lobster Is not a migratory animal, 1t Is
likely to roman within a comparatively short
distance of wherever II starts Ia llfe. Ii backs
into a crevice In the rocks, with its claws out in
front To protect itself from attack and AT tho
same time tn provide itself with prey. it goes
about more or less, but II Is not likely to go a
great distances; u Is local in is habits; It would
generally increased along the coast by artificial
propagation. % conduct operations at various
points, The hatchery at Woods Hole has al
ready begun planting Holsters ut Gloucester and
some other points. besides continuing on q grow
ing scale its operations at Woods Hole.
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