The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-12
SOFT SHELL CRAB INDUSTRY
THE FINEST SPECIMENS SHIPPED
 FROM MARYLAND.

It is not generally known that the
 finest of the soft crabs consumed in
 New York are not from local waters,
 but such is, the case. While many
 thousands of this shell fish are taken ip
 Long Island and New Jersey waters, it
 is from Crisfield, Maryland, that the
 best are shipped. Crisfteld is situated near the extreme lower end of Somersat
 county, on the Little AnnemesseX river,
 a tributary of Tangier Sound. This
 town not only receives the catch taken
 from Maryland waters in it's vicinity,
 but also the principal part of the Tan
 gier Island catch. Deal Island ranks
 next to Crisfield as shipping point, but it has the benefit of steamboat transportation only, while Crisfield has train service in addition. Practically all of the catch in the other grabbing localities of the state is sold to shippers at these two places. The principal grounds are Tangier Sound and tributa-
 ry waters, Hedge Straits and Holland Straits. Crab fishermen usually return from the fishing grounds daily to mar ket their catch. In many cases, how ever, the distance prevents this and they are forced to live in shanties on
 the shores in the vicinity of the fishery, their catch being disposed of to buy
 boats or crab-houses near by. As many as six men sometimes live ] throughout the season in a shanty
 which has cost about twenty-five dol
 lars. Others live aboard their boats. AaoorIipcr +o lo Nf
 A. Rogers, agent of the Bureau of Fish ] cries, soft crabs are taken with three 1 forms of pparatus-scrapes scoop nets and small seines, the catch by the lat
 named being insignificant. The scrapes 1 used are similar to the oyster dredge, l except that they are lighter, have no | teeth on the front bar, and have a cot ton instead of a chain bag, Scrapes are
 used exclusively upon sailing vessels, I and, like oyster dredges, are drawn over the bottom while the boat is nov | ing under sail. The boats vary in size
 from the smallest used in dredging for
 oysters to nine tons net tonnage, which was the largest size used during the
 season of 1901. From two to four l scrapes are carried on each boat, four
 being exceptional, however, and only on l the larger size vessels. As a rule, there
 are two light scrapes and one heavy one
 to a boat. With a good breeze a crew l of two men canma nipulate two light
 scrapes, but with light wind the two
 men together handle a heavy one. A
 crew of three men can, with a favora- l ble breeze, handle three scrapes at the l same time. It is the object of the scraper to have the boat get sufficient | headway to go slightly faster than the 1 crabs can travel, so that they cannot l scape when once in the bag. Scrapes | are not allowed to sink in the soft bot tom, as the mud covering the bottom ! of the bag would furnish means of l escape. The scrapes are taken aboard every few minutes, or after covering l from seventy-five to two hundred | yards, and the contents are emptied out ! and sorted over, usually on a board ! platform or broard flat trough conven- l iently located at the side of the boat The bulk of the material brought up is l grass and mud, from which the crabs | are picked out and distributed in the l several receptacles provided for them, | according to the successive stages of
 their development.
 Scrapers endeavor to reach the crab- ping grounds as early in the morning 1 as possible, before the crabs are moving ! about and have become scattered. The I best catches are made between daylight
 and ten o'clock in the forenoon, and be- tween three o'clock in the afteroon and
 evening", The bright sun in the fore 1 noon drives the crabs back into their l holes until hunger forces them out
 again in the afternoon. On cloudy days they remain out much longer.
 The soft crab season extends from
 the first of May to the last of October, but a majority of the crabbers discon- tinue fishing in September to engage in ] oyster longing. During the first two or l three weeks of May they follow what is | known as ''mud-larking," that is, scoop
 netting in marshes and along the banks of small streams, the crabs being found in the mud at this season of the year. ! By the first of June the crabs become more active, and the season is then con- sidered at it's height. The heaviest \ catches are made during June and
 July. Scoop-netting is followed
 throughout the season, but little scrap- 1 ing is done after the middle of July,
 owing to the calm weather. Very often
 a fisherman will begin scraping early l in the day, and when the wind has ! ceased anchor his sailboat and use his ! skiff for scoop-netting in shallow water. In some localities the bottom grass l grows so thick that the scrape bag fills
 with it, and prevents the crab from en- 1 tering. The scoop net is then brought ! into service. In water less than three ] feet deep it is a common occurrence for ! the crabbers to leave their skiffs and
 wade out after the crabs with scoop nets.
 There are six stages of crabs life,
 commonly classified as follows First,
 the hard crab" or one in it's natural
 condition; second, ''snot," or one that has just entered the shedding stage; i third, "peeler," when the old shell
 has begun to break; fourth, a 'buster' '' l when the new shell can be seen; fifth.
 the"s soft crab;" sixth, a "paper- -shell,' ,'' or "buckram," when the new shell is l beginning to harden. During hot ! weather it takes from two to three days
 for "snot' to become a ''peeler." One ! tide will often change 'peeler'' to a