Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-07-06

A special from Easton, Md, to the
Baltimore Sun says:
1.-The Talbot crab business is more
han usually profitable this season to
he crabbers, and quite profitable also
10 the packers, although the demand
cannot be met. Hard crabs are not SO
plentiful as usual, but prices have
advanced from so to 60 cents barrel
10 81 and s1.25, SO that trotline
trabber can make, and is making, from,
30 to si12 a week, working Eve days,
Saturday and Sunday being omitted.
The price at the .steaminghouses for
tandard crabmeat has advanced 25 per
cent. A prime quality is now separated
IN the process Of picking, which sells
Tor 50 a gallon. 1t is the tenderloin
lying in the cavities where the two
broad fippers. or back fms of tho
prab are inserted. There are but two
email pieces Of this meat in each crab.
With every gallon of crabmeat %
cleaned topshelIs are furnished free, for
making deviled crabs. Five CENTS
hundred in paid for cleaning them,
and at this work fast operator can
|nake 81. so a day. In these crabpack-
nghouses the utmost attention is paid
70 cleanliness, and everything about
hem is as sweet ms a dairy. A great
beal of ice is used. Every crab is
{alise when put into the steam chest
The pickers are mostly white women.
They become very deft-handed and
expert and can make from s.. to S12
week.
Thousands of barrels of salted cells
and picked tripe are sold during the
season for bait. At the beginning of
+ the season cells are used; now tripe
bait has the right of way. The stuff
is bought at wholesale by the packers
and sold to the crabbers. Local fisher
men put up the cells; Wilmington. Del,
is the headquarters for tripe. One
hundred dollars will furnish crabber
or rather two crabbers, as they mostly
hunt in courles--with an outfit, CON
sisting OF boat, lines, bownets, barrels
and bait.
"oxford and Tilgman's Island are
the principal crab packing and shipping
points in Talbot county. At these
points the catch of the crabbers from
the Choptank as far up as crabs swim,
from its creeks on the Talbot side, the
Tired Avon, Broad Creek, Eastern Bay
and nearby Chesapeake waters find a
ready market for every days work,
either for consumption by the packers
there or for shipment to Baltimore in
barrels. AT all the prominent wharves
there are agents for Baltimore commits
sionhouses looking for hard crabs. This
great crab business has been the de-
velopment of few years. 1t was until
recently thought Impossible to bring the
crabmeat business into competition
with the lobstermeat business, and the
hrst attempts at crabmeat packing
resulted in failure.
The full development Of this in
eustry has not yet come. Iu the pro-
cess, OF steaming, picking and packing
hard crabs there is much residuum
which is now waste, as the means of
It's commercial utilization have not yet
been discovered. For instance, in the
domestic use of crabs the yellow fat is
carefully preserved, to be used In cook.
ing to enrich the white meat. 1t Is
most delicious in homemade crabsoups,
&c.. taking the place of butter, being
superior to it in richness and flavor.
But in preparing orabmeat for shipment
this yellow fat is carefully eliminated
and thrown away, as its keeping quail
ties are poor and the smallest quantity
will spoil the whole package OF white
meat. Experiments are being made to
reduce this rich and now valueless
product of the crab into an oil, or a
crab butter, which will keep. The
heart, liver, stomach and lungs-vul-
carly known as dead men--of the crab
are thrown away. Experiments may
develop these into marketable COM
modify, as well as the meaty fins and
the meatless shells.
The marvellous expedition in,trans-
portation facilities assists the crab
business greatly. To be able to put
Oxford crabs in Chicago in 80 hours, as
can Ee done, means much in the BUSH
ness. - -,