Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-08
SOFT SHELL OR DEVILED
Grabbing in the Chesapeake is an Important
Industry.
Supplying the New York Market
Gus Stages Of Development.

"Crisfeld. Md, supplies. at all seasons,
the markets of all the leading cities of
this country with the largest quantities of
crabs" said a wholesale fish dealer in New
York to a Star reporter. 1.-The crabs are
caught in the Chesapeake bay and are
packed in crates and barrels for shipment
Over half the inhabitants of the town make
their living out of grabbing. Whenever a
female crab is scoopcd up in the crabber' S
net. it is always thrown back into the bay;
that keeps I'D the propagation. and hence
the supply is always adequate for the
demand. 1t also accounts for the luscious
quality of the huge blue crab caught in
those waters.
The crabs are caught during every
month in the year and in all stages of de-
Telopment. Millions of crabs are shipped
north every year. and the Maryland soft
crabs meet Jersey soft crabs in New York
markets on equal footing In spite of the
difference in the distance they are carried
The crabs in market in the winter are al
ways hard shells, and, in fact, they would
be if they were brought from the tropics
They are dredged or raked out of the mud
IN the Chesapeake and its estuaries and
thousands of them are taken by oystermen
The crabs are dormant from fall until
spring, even in the Gulf of Mexico, where
they are more abundant than anywhere
else on this country's coast. In the spring.
when they come out of the mud and mass
es of seaweed. they sc right into the bust
ness of shedding. Really. it seems as if
the crab had little else to do in summer
but shed its shell and get a new one of
larger caliber
The hard crab first puts on a leathery
undergarment, and while 1t is growing it
Is known as a conner In a day or two
when this underskin is completed. he is
a shedder, and then he is fitted for bait
because his hard shell can then be strjp-
viz ha
intact.
I'm this condition he is more valuable
man soft crab. owing to the constant de-
mand for bait ana the fact that the she'd
ders are less frequently caught than soft
crabs. In a single day the 'shedder' parts
his shell and becomes d buster Taken
then he is the best Of bait but left in the
water few hours he will throw off his
smell. crawl out of it and commence to
swell and stretch out his elastic covering
then 1t Is that he is a soft crab par ex-
c2llerce.
Quick Changes.
ON the night of the day the crab divests
himself OF his misiit shell he is in the best
toEditlon Tor frying. In another day, if
he is not taken out of the water, his new
covering becomes like parchment, and in
about twelve hours m1re the parchment
narIens, so that it just Yields to pressure
men ne is known as 'buckler and is
o. little use except as broiler
ne crab fishing business is put down at
s''"."'o per year by the fish commission
ana probably the estimate Is by no means
complete, as it is difficult to obtain accu-
rate information from the men engaged
in any kind of fshrg.
IN Virginia and Maryland there are sew
era Dig canning factories putting up crabs
mostly Tor Inland cities, and the business
Is carried on extensively
ne crabs are caught in summer nv
naitlns set lines with tripe CT fish, and
the catch per man will average sixty dozen
a day.
All the soft crabs taken during the sum-
her are sent to market, and in May and
early in June the only soft crabs to he
found in New York come from Maryland
Virginia and North Carolina. In the lat
ter part of June soft crabs begin to be
caught in New Jersey waters, and the
price then declines.
When soft crabs are scarce 50 and 81 -
per dozen is not regarded as an excessive
rice but in the height of the season the
ruling price is 81 for large crabs and 70
cents for medium and small. Shedders
seldom go below % cents a dozen, and
are frequently valued at s1.50, and some
times command 81 per dozen.
Taking a crab out of water arrests
the process of development, and packed in
seawecd in a cool place the shedder or
soft crab will remain alive for several
weeks without undergoing any detrimental
change either as to size or flavor"