Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-12
The Industry Of Breeding and
Marketing Them.
PACKING SOFT SHELLS
THEY MUST BE HANDLED WITH
THE GREATEST CARE.
Output in the Vicinity Of Crisaeld, Nd,
Will Reach $500, 900
This Year.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
CRISFIELD, Md. September II, 1903
There has never been such a crop OF
crabs as this year has brought to this Sec
tion-the largest crab-producing country In
America. At the opening of the season they
easily commanded SIPS per dozen, but now
they are plentiful at 16 cents.
1t is difficult for one who has never Wis
tied this place to estimate the commercial
Importance of the soft and hard-shell
crab industry, and the extensive manner in
which crab breeding is carried on. Its
growth has been phenomenal and largely
instrumental in making this section one of
the richest In the state of Maryland The
people here can match dollars with any
class Of laboring people in the United
States, and most of their wealth comes
from the crab industry. The soft crab,
which Is SO abundant throughout the Chesa-
peake bay. is found on the Atlantic coast
from Massachusetts to Mexico, but at no
place in the world has so much attention
been given to it's cultivation as hero
The Beau Brummel of Crustaceans.
The crab is the Beau Brummel of crus-
taceans, and no living creature gives so
much attention to it's wearing apparel.
Compared to him in this regard the ex-
tremest dude leads a careless and easy life.
If he were a member of the human family
his tailor's bills would consume his entire
earnings. From the time he leaves his
shell he passes through more frequent
transformations than probably any other
member of the animal kingdom On emery
ing from the egg he looks somewhat like an
impossible combination of those omnipros-
ent products of New Jersey-the flea and
the mosquito.
To speak more definitely. he has a fat,
irregular shaped body, with long pro-
boscis, long TAIL long swimming append
ages, with spine covered toe-lke branches
at the ends, with small eyes fixed fiat on
top Of the head He Is not handsome but
decidedly dressy. AT an early age he be-
gins to shed his skin, and having accom-
plished this feat several times he begins
to grow at rapid rate Being ready to
begin business crab he abandons swim
ming profession and takes to the bot
tom, goes foraging along the shores, or
attaches himself to the floating seaweed.
The crab literally grows by shedding. AS
fast as his garments grow too small for
him he casts them off and comes out in
new suit. After he reaches the edible size
he sheds once month, and men who make
business of raising crabs say there is no
regular time for shedding. When his full
growth is attained he ceases to shed. and
indications are not wanting that he reaches
taken with full-grown barnacles and oys
tiers attached to their shells. After a crab
sheds he is the soft-shell crab, SO suitable
for frying and SO dear to the heart and
the shedding process is known as a peel
err "shedder' and buster" and unless
the crustacean is taken in hand immedi-
ately after shedding it quickly becomes a
hardshell and as such does not possess the
market value of softshel.
Cultivating the Crab.
Several years It was the belief Of a num-
Der of gentlemen here that the crab could
be cultivated and raised with profit. Act
ing under this belief they began their work
of impounding and breeding. being laughed
at by their neighbors. who were under the
impression that nothing could be done
which would work better than the plans Old
Master had adopted for their raising. The
experiments were made on a small SCALE
but today there are hundreds of acres Of
the low water and marsh lands covered
with propagating and breeding floats The
farm or pound is inclosed by board fence
which serves as a breakwater, this being
necessary as high waves would break over
and swamp them. From the time the crabs
come out of the egg they are watched by
experienced men who can tell almost to
the minute when they are ready to shed.
AS soon as they shed the last time they
are taken to the packing houses and pre-
pared for shipment. There is nothing so
difficult to properly prepare for shipping as
a box crate Of crabs of the soft-shell
variety. They must be handled with the
greatest care. for If one should die while
being shipped the chances would be that
the entire crate would be spoiled. Crabs
are classed as "culls.' medium and
prime" and the crates in which they are
packed for shipment are provided with
trays in which the crustaceans are placed
between layers of shaved ice and soft sea-
weed The weight of piece of ice as large
as a pea on the head of soft crab will
cause its death.
Growth of the Industry.
The first shipments of any Importance
from this section were made in 1887 when
the value of the catch was about $S4 COO
In that year about seven hundred persons
were engaged in the business here, and not
more than four hundred boats were employ
ed There is no question that the output
this year will reach 100000 and there are
fully six thousand boats in use Twice that
number of men and boys are engaged d.
rectly in the industry, to say nothing of
several hundred women who make fair
wages at the canning factories, where hard
shell crab meat is picked and prepared for
shipment to market. Owing to the immense
amount of phosphorus in crab meat 1t has
been found difficult to It so that 1t
will keep well. and on this account the
larger part of the crab meat is shipped in
buckets and tubs to the larger cities
Hardshell crabs are not troublesome or
expensive to Ship it being found that they
can be dumped into sacks boxes like
potatoes corn. 1t takes a great deal of
d IL.
average gross price per hundred for hard
shells is sixty cents
The Crabbers.
The crabbers are rough and hardy set
of people, but are scrupulously honest In
their dealings. They believe in acting on
the square, and whenever they receive any
other treatment from packer or commits
sion man they do not hesitate to tell him so
and then the fact that the dealer or COM
mission man has acted in bad faith is
passed down the line, and more than one
man has been put out of business here by
a boycott on the part of the crabbers, they
refusing to sell him. Like an Indian the
crabber never gives a man but one chance
to "act dirty" In his canoe the crabber is
entirely at home and earns from $12 to $40
a week during the grabbing season. and as
soon as this is over he goes right into the
business of oyster dredging, thus losing
very little time. A majority of the boats
employed are small open sailboats, but
there are a large number of fat-bottomed
board-built bateaux and skiffs, and quite a
| number of small sloop-rigged deck boats.
| From o'clock in the morning until after
sunup is busy and interesting time
| around the wharves. for 1t Is during these
| hours of the early morning that the crab
al