The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-13

ina New York city Is one OF the
largest consumers of nuskrats as
food Is not known ID most partrons Of
the game dealers. Chicago. which i
It's only rival as eater Of muskrats.
nnds room for countless barrels Of
swamp rabbit caught along The ia
nous marshes on Lake Michigan.
New York's muskrats come from
Chesapeake Bay. for the most part
The trade Is a large one. There are
shipping points on the bay from which
$4,000 Euskrat carcass peIts are sent
yearly TO fur dealers. The carcasses
OF t~o-thirds Of these animals are bar
relied and sent BY steamer to Baltimore
commission merchants.
\ barrel hods about 200 muskrat car
casses. They are worth to the shipper
from - 10 so q barrel and the trap
pers find that il pays 10 save the meat.
An ordinary season in an S0-acre farm
marsh will bring from 1000 10 o.oOo
pelts, worth from $3.50 to $500. II TO
~%@~ - "a 1LE b&A4- vi As1&l go
10 SD Tor the meat. I considerable sum
IS added 10 the trapper's income. 4
thousand rats 4 season Is 3 small catch
for a professional trapper. Merit Rob
Robbins, Of Blackwater OF the Eastern
shor OF Maryland averages poo rats 4
day during the sea>Os on his marshes.
He hires from three to five men to tend
his snares and traps and shoot over his
decOys- Last year h cleared more
than $1,000. He ships 4 barrel OF
muskrats 1 dav 10 Baltimore BY the
steamers.
The meat o. the muskrat is very
dark. It's flavor is "a delicate a. a
rabbits During the trapping season
muskrat flesh is on sale in all the
butcher shops along the eastern shore
especially at Cambridge. Crisheld and
other water towns" The butchers
buy it from the trappers paying from
We to four cents a carcass. The rats
are then sold to town people a. the
uniform price of four NOT d quarter.
The Swamp rabbits" OF black
ducks are served at all Of the cheap
hotels and lodging houses once or twice
a week. Sometimes they are boiled,
sometimes fried, and sometimes baked.
Frequently the patrons Of the houses
do not know what they are eating. A
party of book agents in Captain Can
mons hotel at Cambridge ate hungrily
OF b meat placed before them. Can
non ASKED them how they liked the
Swamp rabbit
Fine was the answer. But when
Cannon told them what it was two out
OF five left the table angrily.
In New York the knowing patrons of
restaurants search down the lists on
game in season" when seeking musk
rats. When they come to swamp
rabbits they know what to expect. It
is apt to be just plain muskrat. ship
ped form Baltimore. Those who be
lieve what they read order the animal
under its tempting name and eat with
out harm to themselves Of a savOry
dish.
tt would be interesting to read res
taurant lists in New York if they were
revised according to common nOmen-
clature. 1t would be found that much
that passes for game is really hum
BILE muskrats and similar animals serv-
ed to suit the taste Of those who have
never seen a muSkrat in its native
grass. Many a housewife in New York
ordering gray squirrels or rabbits
dressed" unwittingly serves at her
table Chesapeake Bay muskrats.
There are, of course, many people
who know muskrats and eat them reg
u1arly. IN some of the foreign quar-
tiers muskrats are sold for what they
are. Italians buy them in large num-
bers and the ingredients of sundry
Chinese restaurant dishes include the
dark meat of the wacec rodent dis
guised only by its Chinese name.
Of the scores Of barrels OF muskras
which come to New York during the
winter months few ~carcasses are vast
ed and few find their way into the ON
nivOrOus cutters Of soup and hash
makers. Between the butchers who
sell dressed squirrels and rabbits and
the men who are familiar with tn
good qualities Of muskrat meat, tbs
supply is cared for at fair prices.
Of course, people who believe they
ought to know what they eat may OBJ
jeCt to eating muskratS under another
name. but in the long run If they ear
nothing worse in their ~gustatory RAM
blings, they may consider themselves
Observation-Disclosures.