Pork and beef raised on our own farms and cured in our own packing-houses would keep at home the large sums of money sent off annually for the meat supply of the people.
The grocerymen of Jackson purchase every year about $100,000 worth of meat and lard for consumers in this immediate section, and it is easily seen that a packing-house in Jackson would be a profitable industry. It would furnish a home market for hog and cattle-raisers, and stimulate the production of the best qualities. Every step in this direction is an important gain, and the subject deserves the earnest attention of our live and progressive citizens.—The Whig, Jackson, Tenn.
Sponge Fishing in Florida.
The vessels that are used in the business are chiefly schooner-rigged and vary in size from five to twenty-five tons burden. They carry crews ranging from five in number to fifteen for the largest vessels, nine men to the boat being the average number. The odd man in each case is the cook, who remains aboard to provide for the inner wants of the crew (generally amazingly large) and sails the craft while the balance are off in the small boats called dingeys in search of sponge. Each vessel is provided with poles of various lengths, from fifteen to fifty feet, to be used according to the depth of water in which they are working, which have attached to them three pronged hooks shaped like the teeth of a garden rake, somewhat heavier, with which the sponge are detached from the objects to which they are adhered and drawn into the dingey.
Two men are necessary to operate a dingey, one, the “hooker,” using the pole and the sculler keeping the boat in motion, following the directions of the hooker, where he leans over the side looking through an ordinary wooden bucket with a glass sealed in its bottom for the sponge, which, when discovered, is secured with the hooks.
The fisherman are most all former inhabitants of the islands; many of them have lived in the Bahamas, and there are about equal numbers of white men and negroes.
They are designated “Conchs” by the people living upon the mainland, from their making use of that shell animal for edible purposes when living upon their native islands.
A trip is of eight to ten weeks’ duration, unless it is mutually agreed by the owner and the crew that it shall end sooner, and a “broken” trip is one which does not pay expenses incurred, and does not happen often, except during a period of disaster like that just passed through.
When the trip is finished the catches are carried to market where the purchaser bids upon them at a certain price per bunch or for the lot, having previously estimate from his thorough knowledge of the goods their value in pounds.
Before sending them to the various markets they are first trimmed neatly and cleaned of all rock and shell, and then packed in bales of convenient sizes in a compress which reduces them to small bulk and renders them easily handled.