The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-05-13
CATCHING SCALLOPS.


just before the last visitors leave the
seaside places where scallops abound
they see men cleaning down the large
sioops and fishing boats, scraping the
bottoms and overhauling sails and run
ask the reason why, they are told that
the scallop season commences on Oc-
tober /. This has been the date for
years, with the exception of 1894, when
the Massachusetts season was delayed
until November l, owing to the growing
scarcity OF the mollusk and the change
in the season, which gives warmer
weather, as a rule, at the end of Septem-
Der and in October than was the case
years ago. As matter of fact, scallops,
like celery, are not in their prime until
the frost catches them.
The great bulk of the early scallops
in the New York market comes from
Shelter island and Peconic bay, where
visitors in summer may see them lying,
shells and fish mingled, by hundreds of
thousands in five feet of shoaling water
There are many more empty shells than
proved to some extent if the visitors
dredge for the handsome fan-shaped
shells to use in fancy work. They sell
dom get a shell with the meat still in It.
Later on scallops come to this market
f1Om Buzzard's bay, Monument beach,
up to Wings Neck Light, in Massachu-
sets, and still later the eastern supply
arrives from Maine and New Hamp-
shire. This year the early shipments
come from Huntington, Smithtown and
Brookhaven, l.. l., and scallops from the
Connecticut coast will be coming in
dollars a gallon to twenty-five cents.
At present, while the supply is limited,
prices will be very huctuating. On De-
tober 1 the price was one dollar, and
October it was $3.50 in the market.
The industry is not a very old one, it
being about twenty-five years since 1t
assumed large proportions. As In the
case of oysters, people had scauops at
their doors, but did not care to take the
trouble to gather them to eat, much less
try to market them. Four years ago
the United States government eyinced
an interest in the industry, and obtained
statistics of receipts at the various mar
kets for term of years.
The scallops are taken from the wa
ter at the various points by dredging
from the sides Of sloops and SMALLER
boats. The dredge consists of an IRON
frame holding about bushel, with i
coarse network of iron rings a the back,
like an oyster dredge. 1t is drawn Now
~ over the scallop ground unit; Ii is
filed, when the catch is hauled in!sIard,
the culling process commences, as1 the
refuse is thrown overheard. Some of
the larger boats put out on a good day
as many as seven dredges. A good day
is estimated to produce about thirty
bushels in the shell. and the thirty BUSH
els in the shell will produce about
ninety quarts for the market. The EYE"
O. the mollusk is the only part retained
Opening the shells in cold weather IL
bitter hard work, and the men earn
every cent they make. The shells are,
however, fairly easy to open, and for
this reason it is no uncommon thing for
men who own skiffs to take their en-
tire catch home. where their wives and
children all turn out to help shell them.
The shells have sharp edges, which
make most of the men wear rubber
finger cots. The knife used is of steel,
with a blade an inch wide and nearly
! !, 4
get through with ~ gallons a day, AMI
the pay is 20 cents gallon. The small
scallops are thrown overheard.
1t is practically impossible to get seal
lops in their natural state in the New
York markets. They are all soaked be
fore leaving the dredgers, the idea De
ing to make them larger and whiter
BY soaking three gallons of scallorS
they can Se made to measure four gal
Ions, but the effect of the process on
the quality is another matter. Any Wis
itor who has bought them at the
grounds knows the difference between
the soaked and the unsoaked. Directly
the soaked scallops are cooked they
flood the pan with water and drive many
a good housewives soul into sin by chill
ling the fat in which she intended to
cook them. Many time she will dry
them carefully, cracker dust and egg
them, have the fat boiling and bUb.
bling, only to drop them in and have
them come out parboiled, or parstewed.
The failure is due to the waters being
tried ont of tbar1
The scallop is a short-lived mollus<.
coming to maturity and dissolution in
two years in its natural element, and
dying in two days when removed. Seal
lops are very uncertain in their move
ments, and the supply is therefore pre-
carious, winds and tides or any changes
of currents affecting their numbers
strongly, and sometimes entirely clear
ing them out of places where they have
been very prolific. The yield this year
is expected to be fully up to the aver
age. The American scallops are easily
the finest in the world, although the
fish has been known favorably for CEN
turtles, the larger Mediterranean variety
having been worn centuries ago in the
hats of pilgrims.-N. Y. Sun.