The Washington herald., 1911-06-11

baited line UP as he comes to It and dip
ping cut-or mufiing-the crab almost al
ways to be found clinging to the bait.
II the line peeds It he rebaits and passes
on to the next. BY the time he has
reached the end Of that trot line It is like
ly that most of his bats have been re-
attacked by the ever-hungry crustacean,
and the return trip down the line averages
about as well as the first haul. The fish
erman keeps this up until he finds the
results too slim to be worth the trouble.
He then stakes out a new claim and
strings his trot line over another section
Of the grabbing grounds
Many Crab Factories.
OF late years crabs have become so
much in demand at all of the big hotels
throughout the country that a number
of factories have been established along
the bay, and on other waters where the
carabus is plentiful, where vast quanti-
ties of crab meat is canned or packed
for shipment. This demand has made
winter hunting for crabs profitable, and
it has come to such a pass that the poor
crab is now being searched out in his
winter hiding places and dragged to the
surface to fulfill the popular craving for
his appearance a la Newburg. So freely
is this winter crab fishing carried on that
the crab dealers in Washington prophesy
the extinction of the edible species unless
the government takes some steps to stop
the continual securing of the grabbing
grounds by professional fishermen. They
say the crabs are being caught in much
greater numbers than can be made up
by their natural reproduction, and they
attribute the comparative scarcity of
crabs at this season of the year to last
winters harvest of the crab diggers.
The cost of crab meat ranges in ac-
cordance with the style in which 1t is
prepared. You may buy II by the quart
for about So cents or pay $50 for a por-
ton of II in the chafing dish; 80 cents for
a full portion OF crab salad at the big
hotels; 80 cents for a deviled crab in the
same expensive establishments. or you
may go to one Of the summer gardens at
tached to a saloon and get all the fresh
ly boiled crabs you can crack open and
eat at the rate of six for a quarter. At
some places you may even enjoy crab
feast free OF charge, providing. Of course.
that you and your companions purchase
liquid refreshments.
Vast Number Imported.
The amount of crabs used in the sum
mer gardens is astounding. There Is one
place in particular, down on Seventh
street near the wharfs, where hard and
soft shell crabs are time-henored
speciality. that finds its summer garden
packed to the doors almost every night
during the season with tables full of
ardent crab eaters
This place uses on the average of
twenty barrels of crabs in a day, the
barrels holding 200 crabs each. or course,
a large percentage OF the crabs are
thrown away when the shipment is re-
ceived, for no matter how quickly they
are transported the careful summer-gar-
den proprietor always finds a number of
dead crabs when he sorts over the
barrels.
Some OF the records made by crab
fends at this garden seem almost i'm
possible, but they are vouched for by
the proprietor and walters who served
the record-breakers with the crustaceans.
One man is said to have eaten three
dozen large hardshell crabs at a sitting;
another got away with sixteen deviled