The Springfield herald., 1912-09-13
Real Home of
the Soft Shells

" &A4S 0VAS 014SAAS
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
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 as Seattle.
Crisfield 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 classed 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. He
lives in Crisfleld. is in business there
and has made study Of the crab
|
"Crlsfleld." said Mr.. Carson. "pro-
duces 90 per cent Of all the soft crabs
consumed in this country. They are
caught within radius of ten miles of
| the town. The old part of CrIsfield
was built on oyster shells, but of re-
cent years the town has expanded. 1t
was only about twelve years ago that
the discovery that the soft-shell crab
could be popularized started a boom
and the values of property in the last
six years have trebled.
Evolution Of soft-sheiI Grab.
In the waters about Deai's, Tangier
and Smiths islands the soft crabs are
caught In two ways. One is employed
by the 'scrapers.' who drag an instru-
ment like an oyster dredge in the wa
ter six to twelve feet deep, from
bateau or canoe. The other method
is employed by the 'netters' who
| stand in the bow of skiff, pushing
the boat slowly along in shallow wa
ter and making swoop with a dipnet
when they see crab on the bottom
Ninety per cent Of the crabs thus
caught are hard-shelled, and they are
put into floats and kept until they
shed their shells.
THE first stage Of a crab In pro-
crossing from hard to soft is what lis
termed locally a 'snot.' The change
from snot to softer requires from
four hours to four days. depending on
the condition Of the crab. The snot
becomes peeler. when he is much
priced for bait. and a new shell has
completely formed under the hard
coat. and then buster when the hard
Shell has started to come loose at the
back. Then in short time energies
the softer, ready for the market and
the table
| From crustacean to Hardsheil.
The average life OF a crab is three
years. The secretary of the Virginia
state board of fisheries. who has stud.
led crabs many years. says that a
single female in the spring of the year
VIII produce 1.250,00O 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 1. the soft crab season opens at
Morehead City. N. c., where many
Crtsfeld packers go and operate until
the season begins at home.
Shipped Packed In Seaweed.
III when a crab is unpacked in New
York. 1t 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. I shipped crabs last
summer to a friend in Houston, Tex,
a seventy-two hour Journey. We do
not ship in refrigerated cars, but in
refrigerating boxes.
Some persons do not know how to
tell when crab Is fit to eat Here
is an infallible method of telling. The
fact that crab is dead when 1t is
unpacked does not mean that it Is nee.
essarily spoiled The way to tell is to
pull out one OF the back fms. II Il
resists. the crab should be in good
condition. If the crab should be
thrown away the fin will come out
easily and will be mushy on the end
Brown spots on the top of shells of
crabs do not mean anything is wrong
because you will frequently find them
on live crabs. It makes no difference
how long crab has been dead IL the
back fin pulls out hard.
Prices Of Crabs Fluctuate Greatly.
About rs per cent of the population
of Crisfield is engaged in the oyster
and fish trade. But we cannot count
upon anything like a regular produc.
tion. Crabs may be selling one day at
81 a dozen and in three days time
may drop to 30 cents because of over.
production. Then a storm may cut OF
the supply and the price go soaring
ago''
abs are picked into three
Cr neat. Claw meat, for use
On lunch counArs; white. for
devil crabs and crab Cakes, and lump
for newburgs and fancy dishes. ]
have heard that Japanese crab meat
canned, comes into this country free