[About one-half actual size, which is shown in inches at left of
plate.]]
Consequently all shells less than about 1½ inches in length, no
matter what the quality, are thrown into the discard. _There can be no
difference of opinion as to the pure wastefulness of taking shells of
this size._
The shells shown in the illustration are not the smallest that could be
found. Some shells observed in the fishermen's boats were only one-half
inch in the greatest diameter. Out of the water these are entirely
without use. The fisherman who saves them, thinking that they add
weight to his heap, would doubtless be surprised to learn that he would
have to handle several times and clean 200 of such shells to add 1 cent
to his earnings, for it would take nearly half a million of them to
make 1 ton.
The shells in the fourth and fifth rows, counting from the top in plate
II, are used at the factories when received, and are sometimes
particularly favored where the quality is as good as in those from many
Arkansas rivers, and the shells will yield two or three blanks of 16 to
20 lines. Such blanks are of a suitable thickness and work up
economically besides having a good quality. Some of the shells in these
two rows show how blanks of 18, 16, and 14 lines are worked out, a
"line" in button measure representing the fortieth part of an inch.
The use of shells taken between 1½ and 2 inches in greatest diameter
does not, therefore, like the marketing of those under 1½ inches,
represent absolute waste, but it does denote relative waste or real
short-sightedness from the economic point of view. Shells of this size
will average about 30,000 pairs to the ton, while mussels of such a
practical size as 2½ inches will average only 15,000. The number of
blanks obtained from a ton of shells of the latter size would be just
the same as from a ton of the smaller shells, notwithstanding that only
half as many shells are handled. _We are thus, when using the smaller
shells, depleting the mussel beds at twice the necessary rate without
any corresponding advantage._