Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 49.djvu/557

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THE SCALLOP.
537

bag is fastened; the latter, holding-a bushel and a half, is made of chain where it drags the bottom, and of twine on the top portion. The dredges are used in from three to thirty feet of water from the windward side of the boat, with a length of line varying with the depth and also with the speed, the line being shortened when the wind is light, to prevent anchoring the boat, and if the wind is very light the number of the dredges must be lessened. After sailing a certain distance the dredges are brought in one by one and dumped on the culling board, where the contents are assorted; the small crabs are thrown overboard, the winkles and

Bringing a Dredge on Board.

starfish thrown one side for fertilizers, and the scallops shoveled into the hold. Thirty bushels a day is a fair catch for a boat, while fifty bushels is considered to be a good day's work.

Two other species are found on our Atlantic coast, both rare south of Cape Cod, one of which is common on the coast of Maine, is extensively fished for, and is very large. The species now under