The Ordway new era., 1912-11-22
Real Home Of
the Soft Shells

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There may be persons who have
never heard OF Crisfield and who do
| not know that 1t Is the greatest mar
ket in the world for soft-shell crabs
Some hotels in New York get their
| supplies Of the delicious crustaceans
direct from there and they have been
shipped as far az Seattle.
Crisfeld is In Maryland. down on
the lower part OF the eastern shore.
1t is not big place. but they do send
| out good things to eat from there
| not only the. soft shell crab. but the
diamond-back terrapin. the Tangier
oyster. which the gourmets Of Balti-
more think is to be Chased among the
most delicious of the species. and
white shad. to which those same gour-
| NETS hold that no shad Is equal And
80 on. " With which introduction, en-
ter L. r. Carson.
Mr.. Carson was at the Imperial re.
Gently, says the New York Sun. Hs
lives in Crisfield, is in business there
and has made study of the crab
scientifically and commercially.
- WI b"iu MI. pTO-
duces 80 rer cent OF all the soft crabs
consumed In this country. They are
caught within radius Of ten miles Of
me town. The old part Of Crisfleld
was built on oyster shells, but Of re-
cent years the town has expanded. It
was only about twelve years ago that
the discovery that the sostshell crab
could be popularized started a boom
and the values Of property in the last
SIX years have trebled. ''''
Evolution Of soft-sheiI Grab.
I'm the waters about Deai's, Tangier
and Smiths islands the soft crabs arc
caught In two ways. One is employed
by the 'scrapers,' who drag an instr,,-
ment like an oyster dredge in the wa
ter six to twelve feet deep. from q
bateau or canoe. Tho other method
Is employed by the 'netters,' who
stand in the bow OF q skin, pushing
the boat slowly along in shallow wa
ter and making swoop with a dipnet
when they see a crab on the bottom.
Ninety per cent Of the crabs thus
caught are hard-shelled, and they arc
put into floats and kept until they
shed their shells.
AHS hIot htd8e OI cfoO IN pro-
crossing from hard to soft Is what il
termed locally a 'snot.' The change
from a snot to softer requires from
iour hours to four days. depending on
the condition Of the crab. The snoe
becomes q peeler. when he is much
priced for bait. and o new shell has
completely formed under tho hard
coat. and then a buster when the hard
shell has started to come loose at the
back. Then In a short time emerres
the softer. ready for the market and
the table.
From Crustacean to HardsheiL
The average life Of crab Is three
years. The secretary Of tho Virginia
state board Of fisheries. who has stud
'ed crabs many years. says that a
single female in the spring Of the year
VIII produce f.250.000 eggs. Out OF
all those only about 200 crabs mature.
The remainder are consumed by other
fish and by crabs. After laying her
eggs the female crab Is eaten by 9TH
ers Of her species.
"The season opens in our waters on
May and lasts until Oct. 1, when the
crabs go out into very deep water
In the early spring. to be exact. on
March I, the soft crab season opens at
Morehead City. N. c., where many
Crisfield packers go and operate until
the season begins at home.
Shipped Packed In seaweed.
III when crab is unpacked in New
York. It is what is called paper
she'll which means that the shell has
begun to harden: that means that II
the crab was properly packed It was
that hard when 1t started. Packed in
sea ores (seaweed). they will keep soft
until they die. shipped crabs last
summer to a friend in Houston, Tex
seventy.two hour Journey. We do
not ship in refrigerated cars, but in
refrigerating boxes.
Some persons do not know how to
tell when q crab is fit to eat. Here
IS an infallible method of telling. The
fact that crab Is dead when Il fs
unpacked does not mean that II Is nee
essarily spoiled. The way to tell h to
pull out ono Of the back fms. II II
resists. the crab should be in good
condition. II the crab should be
thrown away the fin will como out
easily and will be mushy on the end.
Brown spots on the top Of shells of
crabs oSpot Rean anything.is wrong.
because 1ou~will frequently 1ilnd them
on live crabs. It makes no difference
how long q crab has been dead II the
back I'm pulls out hard.
Prices Of Crabs FIuetuats Greatly.
Ahoyf TX vor oon% - A. .~-..S..s