Terrapin Farming
A DIAMOND-BACK terrapin farm with more than 15,000 terrapin in stock and worth at a conservative estimate $40,000 is one of the new and interesting industries of Crisfield, the very heart of the famous eastern shore of Maryland.
When Washington and Lafayette were forced to eat terrapin at Yorktown because the army supplies were low, when counties in Maryland passed laws prohibiting the feeding of slaves oftener than twice a week on terrapin meat in order to save pork, and when the succulent reptile was cooked as food for fowls and swine, and could be bought for $1 an ox-cart load, no one ever dreamed that the day would ever come when the terrapin would become almost extinct and worth as much as $160 a dozen. But such is the exact situation to-day, and in this section, the most productive of the luscious diamond-back of the Chesapeake, they are cared for and guarded with greater anxiety for their safety than were the slaves in the days when they protested against being gorged on the terrapin meat. In those days the diamond-back terrapin were as numerous in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as are crabs at the present time, but now there is a shipload of crabs where there is one terrapin found.
Believing that good money could be made in "cultivating" terrapins, A. L. La Valette, a grandson of Rear Admiral E. A. F. La Valette, decided to embark in the business, and according to his own statement he has no cause to regret this decision. He knows the Chesapeake Bay thoroughly, having been actively engaged in the terrapin, oyster, crab and fish business for more than fourteen years, and there was no question in his mind that it would only be a few years before terrapin would bring fabulous prices. Selecting a pretty site for a home on the shore near Crisfield, he had erected a splendid house, adjoining which he built his terrapin farm, covering about seven acres, everything being arranged to suit their habits as regards water, grass and sand. The farm is divided up into pens, with high fences and wire screens across the sluiceways. In these pens are water, grass, wet and dry sand, and "Mister Tarrapin" can take his choice as to where he spends his time.
Plank walks high above water and marsh are constructed over the farm, and when Mr. La Valette wishes to feed his valuable reptiles he simply goes out on one of these elevated walks and claps his hands together, making a loud noise. In an instant the terrapins come helter-skelter from the sand, marsh and water and huddle under the walk where he stands, while those in the other pens crawl against the wire screens and fence in an effort to get through. They sometimes crawl on top of each other until they are piled up 2ft. thick, and occasionally there are some pretty lively fights, though a terrapin is not generally very pugnacious. They are fed on crabs, fish and meats of any kind, but are small eaters, and it is seldom that a terrapin will attack any live thing larger than a fly, bug or very small fish.
Mr. La Valette has terrapin of all sizes, from the largest to the tiny little fellows not yet quite one year old and not larger than a silver half-dollar. Their growth is remarkably slow, and it is estimated that at least thirty or forty years is required for a terrapin to attain its full growth. The diamond-back -- said to be the finest known -- seldom grows to be over 9in. in length measured by the stomach or under shell. It is the opinion of Mr. La Valette that no man can accurately estimate the number of years it takes for a terrapin to get its full growth, but believes it cannot be less than thirty-five or forty years.
Notwithstanding the fact that every pen appeared to be full of terrapin of all sizes, Mr. La Valette said that he did not think he had more than 15,000 in stock, that orders were heavy last winter and the severe weather last February had killed a large number. The terrapin is by nature a cold-blooded reptile, and with the coming of the first frosts he begins to locate himself for the winter, and it is necessary on this farm to keep a close eye on the weather and use artificial means for keeping the terrapins from freezing. The favorite place for the hibernation of the very large size is a few inches below the soft oozy mud at the bed of a three or four-fathom V-shaped channel in the bed of a creek of about the same distance from shore to shore. Thousands of such creeks penetrate the shores and islands of the Chesapeake, and those less frequented by man are instinctively selected by the terrapin for its haunts. No matter how long they may remain hibernated they never lose an ounce in weight, and come out as gay as crickets in the warm spring, though for months they have not tasted food nor water.
The time of hibernation usually lasts about six months, beginning with the approaching frosty weather in the fall and continuing until warm spring weather. They bury a few inches in the mud and leave at the spot where they disappear a mound, in the middle of which a hole can be discerned. It is the mound and the hole which first attract the attention of the fisherman. During this period terrapin are caught in their torpid state. They receive no
A few of the hunters still employ dogs in tracking them, but a dog trained to track terrapin is seldom suited for any other purpose, and the result is that but few dogs are utilized in this way. Years ago nearly every resident of the eastern shore had his terrapin dog. When a dog tracks and finds a terrapin he places his fore feet on the terrapin's back and holds him until the hunter comes, the hunter being notified of the "tree" by the barking of the dog. A man might follow a terrapin track which had been made several days, but a dog knows at once by the scent whether it is an old or fresh track. Dogs also locate the nests of terrapin and hunters take the eggs, worth but little as food, but going far toward hastening the extermination of the terrapin. Both male and female are very shy and active, swim well and run with considerable speed, but like a cow or woman on the run, are very awkward. Terrapin manage to evade dredges and nets unless the handlers are skilled in their work. Nothing has perhaps speeded the scarcity of terrapin more than the habit of some hunters of firing the grass in the marshes in the early spring, causing the terrapin to come from their places of hibernation under the impression that warm weather had set in and that it was safe for them to venture out. Thousands are burned to death this way, and there are stringent laws against firing the marshes, but the hunters get out of it by testifying the fire was accidental.
Rats will dig up and destroy the eggs, and as a terrapin does not deposit eggs but once a year the breaking up of a "hatching" is regarded as a heavy loss. Mr. La Valette says it is a great error to state that terrapins place eggs in dry sand and that they are hatched by the sun's heat. He showed the writer a nest of eggs and these were in wet sand, covered at a depth of 5 or 6in. Incubation is brought about by atmospheric conditions, and it requires from forty to forty-two days for the eggs to hatch. The eggs resemble those of the snake, having no shell, but a thin, tough skin, and are about the size of the egg of the American partridge, though not as well shaped. It is from three to five days after the little fellows are released from the eggs before they are sufficiently strong to go waddling about, and it is always necessary to keep a close watch to prevent their being killed by rats, crabs and large fish.
The young receive but little attention from the mother, and almost from the first are left to look out for themselves and get along as best they can. Mr. La Valette has separate pens for the very young, where it is almost impossible for anything to get to and destroy them. After a few months the little terrapins sport around in the shallow water and crawl out in the sand banks as frisky as colts in a pasture. Eggs are always deposited in the months of May and June, the female terrapin crawling out on the sand, and when she finds a suitable location she scratches out a hole to the depth of 5 or 6in., lays her eggs, and then carefully covers them over, drawing her stomach over the sand in such a manner as to hid all traces of the nest. This being done, the terrapin goes back into the water or grass, and as far as is known she never returns to the nest until time for the eggs to hatch. A terrapin does not begin to deposit eggs until she is four years old.
About fifty years ago Capt. John Etheridge sold in Norfolk about 3,000 fine diamond-backs for $400, and a little later he shipped to Baltimore about the same number, receiving something over $350. This, it is said, was the beginning of the onslaught on the terrapin, and from Cape Fear to Baltimore men engaged in the work of terrapin hunting. It is known that terrapin formerly lived in colonies, but constant dredging caused them to scatter, and from that time until the present the catch has grown smaller each year. According to Mr. La Valette the annual shipments from this section and its tributaries will not exceed $400,000. It has not been more than twenty years since those who were familiar with the facts began to realize that there was danger of a terrapin famine -- that the reptiles would soon be almost exterminated.
Naturally, with the increase in price, there were thousands engaged in the work of hunting them, and it was found expedient for the States of Maryland and Virginia to enact laws governing the taking of terrapins and the sizes which should be sold in season. These laws have been added to and enforced as rigidly as possible, but the scarcity of the Chesapeake diamond-back grows more apparent each year, and even now it requires many days of laborious and tedious work and many miles of walking over soft, boggy marshes, prodding in deep, narrow channels with long-shafted tongs by men
The people have robbed themselves by trapping incalculable quantities of terrapin before they had matured sufficiently for breeding, and by digging eggs from beneath the sand shore, where they had been deposited by the females to hatch. While the laws enacted by the Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia for the protection of the terrapin differ somewhat, they are both excellent, and had they been rigidly enforced this spectacle of ultimate extermination would not exist.
It takes an epicure to detect the difference in the Chesapeake diamond-back and those of North Carolina and Mississippi. Ordinary mortals do not know the difference. Of course, it is not infrequently the case that other terrapin are palmed off by unscrupulous caterers for the genuine Chesapeake diamond-back, and it is also true that male terrapin are substituted for females by placing eggs in them when served. Those throughly up on terrapin, however, can readily detect fraud. The terrapin season is from November to May, inclusive. It is claimed by some that penned terrapin are not as succulent as those freshly caught, but it is reasonable to imagine that the "stall-fed" terrapin is good enough. The small species are divided into two classes, "heifers" and "bulls." The undershells of the heifers never measure more than 5in. in length, and bulls from 5 to 5 1/2. Measurement is always made from the collar-bone under the stomach to the tail. The larger the terrapin the greater the value a pound. For instance, a terrapin measuring 7 3/4 in. and weighing 64oz. is worth, say, $2.05 a pound, or $8.20 -- $98.40 a dozen. The diamond-back terrapin is always high and brings a much larger price than any other. The outlook is that the price will be much larger than ever this coming season. The largest shipment ever made by Mr. La Valette was in 1890, when Jay Gould gave a banquet at Delmonico's. It required twenty-eight barrels to make the shipment, and the bill was something over $4,700.