their own boats. A number also come in from the Provinces on the
regular steamship lines. The other places get their supply from the
smacks and also from the fishermen in their vicinity, who run in their
own catch. Portland is very favorably situated in this regard, as
Casco Bay is a noted fishing center for lobsters.

As soon as a smack arrives it is moored directly alongside one of
the cars. The lobsters are then dipped out of the well by means of
long-handled scoop nets and thrown on the deck of the vessel. The
doors of the car are then opened, and men on the vessel pick over the
lobsters lying on the deck and toss them two by two into the different
compartments, those dead and badly mutilated being thrown to one side
for the time being. All vigorous lobsters above a certain size are
placed in compartments of the car by themselves, while the weak and
small are put in separate compartments. The dead lobsters and those
which have had their shells broken or have been so injured that they
are very sure to die are either thrown overboard or on the dump. A
lobster which has lost one or even both claws is not thrown away, as
such an injury would have very little effect on its health.

When an order is received for live lobsters, those which have been
longest in the cars are usually shipped. Flour barrels holding about
140 pounds or sugar barrels holding about 185 pounds, with small holes
bored in the bottoms for drainage, are used for the shipment. Formerly
the lobsters were packed close together in the barrel, and a large
piece of ice was put in at the top, but this was found to kill a
number of them. The present method is to split off about one-third of
a 100-pound cake of ice the long way, and place it upright about half
way of the length of the barrel, the lobsters then being packed snugly
on all sides of the ice. In handling them the packer seizes the