seaweed or large-leaved marine plants, and the rest of the space is
filled with cracked ice. The top is then covered with a piece of
sacking, which is secured under the upper hoop of the barrel. Packed
in this way, lobsters have easily survived a trip as far west as St.
Louis.

Owing to the high prices realized in England for live lobsters,
attempts have been made to ship live American lobsters to that market,
generally from Canadian ports. In 1877 Messrs. John Marston & Sons, of
Portland, made a trial shipment of 250. They were placed in a large
tank 20 feet long by 8 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and constantly
supplied with fresh seawater through six faucets by means of a donkey
engine, a waste-pipe preventing any overflow. The trip was fairly
successful, as only 50 died, and the balance brought from 60 to 75
cents per pound.

The smacks and dealers buy lobsters by count, as the fishermen
generally have no facilities for weighing them; but the dealers always
sell by weight. The mortality among the lobsters from the time they
are put aboard the smacks until they are barreled for shipment is
estimated at about 5 per cent.

BOILING.

Live lobsters are much preferred by the trade throughout the country,
and only those that can not be marketed in such condition are boiled.
The number boiled fluctuates considerably, owing to the condition
of the markets. When the fresh markets of Boston and New York are
overstocked, the lobster dealers of Rockland and Portland, where most
of the Maine lobsters are boiled, proceed to boil their surplus stock.

The following description of the boiling is from The Fisheries and
Fishery Industries of the United States, section v, vol. II, p. 684:

The boilers are rectangular wooden tanks or vats of about 60
gallons capacity, lined with zinc and furnished with a cover.
Heat is applied by the introduction of steam through a series of
perforated pipes arranged in the bottom of the tank. The steam
is generated in an ordinary boiler standing close at hand. The
lobsters are not thrown directly into the vat, as the operation
of removing them after cooking would in such an event be an
exceedingly tedious one; but an iron framework basket, of rather
slender bars is made to fit the tank loosely, and is lowered and
raised by means of a small derrick placed over the tank. This
frame, which holds about 300 pounds, is filled with lobsters at
the edge of the w