Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-12
Real Home of
the Soft Shells

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.
Crisheld is in Maryland, down on
the lower part of the eastern shore.
u Is not big place, but they do send
out good things to eat from there
not only the soft shell crab. but the
uIafnond-back terrapin, the Tangier
OYSTER, which the gourmets OF Balti.
more think Is to be classed among tbe
uiIst dehcious of the species, and
"hi'e shad, to which those same gour.
NETS hold that no shad is equal And
SO on With which Introduction on,
ter L. r. Carson.
MI carson was at tho ImperIaI re,
Gently, says the New York SIM IT.
lives in crisfield, is in business thora
and has made study OF tho orat,
sclentlHcafy and commercially.
Crlsfield" said Mr.. Carson. "nro
nuces 80 PEI cent Of all the soft crab,
consumed In this country. They ara
caught withina radius Of ten miIas 81
the town. Tie old part Of Crisno1d
was built on Cster shells. br+ NJ 70.
cent years the own has exnanded II
was only about welve years ego tbat
the discovery tht the goft.sbaII crob
could be Dopularzcd started a boom
and the values of7roperty in the last
six years have treled.
Evolution Of Sft.shell Crab
I'm the waters obrt Dea,s Tonpio,
and Smiths islands ne soft crane aro
caught IN two ways. One is emplovod
by the 'scrapers,' whodrag an instru,
ment like an oyster dr1ge in tho u.a.
ter six to twelve feet deem from n
bateau or canoe. The thor rotbo5
4 Is employed by the 'nttorc, r.bo
stand in the bow of sifp nusbina
the boat slowly along in ba1Iou, We
Ter and making a swoop VIII dipnet
When they see a crab on 10 botto,,
Ninety per cent Of the obs tbmr
caught are hard-sheled an tbev a 49,.
| put into floats and kept ,ti1 tbo,.
shed their shells. '''e'
The first stage Of 4 era :.
crossing from hard to soft isrbo. -
termed locally a 'snot' The,barga
from a snot to softer requir' Frnr,,
four hours to four days. depen,a
the condition of the crab. Th go
Incomes a peeler, when he is ,,oh
priced for bait, and new SHELF
completely formed under the 49,,
coat, and then a buster when the H.,
/ smell n1
back. Then in a short time emert,
inc softer ready for the market a,
the table.
from Crustacean to Hardshell.
The average life of 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
Will produce 100000 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 l and lasts until Oct. /, when the
crabs go out into very deep water.
In the early spring. to be exact on
March |, the soft crab season opens at
Morehead City. n. c.. where many
Cristield packers go and operate until
the season begins at home
Shipped Packed In seaweed.
''If when a crab is unpacked in New
York. II 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 it started Packed ir
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 dc
not ship In refrigerated cars, but in
refrigeratlng boxes.
Some persons do not know how tc
tell when a 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 il is nee
essarily spoiled The way to tell is to
pull out one of the back fins. If il
resists, the crab should be in good
condition. If the crab should be
thrown away the fin will come ont
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 a crab has been dead if the
back fin pulls out hard.
Prices Of Crabs Fluctuate Greatly.
about IS per cent of the population
OF Crisheld is engaged in the oyster
and fish trade But we cannot count
! upon anything like a regular prodlc-
ton. Crabs may be selling one day at
| 81 a dozen and in three days time
may drop 10 80 cents because OF over
production, Then a storm may cut or
he supply and the price go soaring
| again.
Hard crabs are picked into three
grades Of meat. Claw meat, for use
on free lunch counters; 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
of duty, but have not been able to
verify It.
Diamond back terrapin are scarce
When you think that in slavery times
the Maryland legislature passed an
act prohibiting planters from feeding