MASSACHUSETTS: BOSTON DISTRICT. 197 



amount it' they were takeu, but for some unexplained cause the supply has largely decreased 

 during the past few years. 



A few pom paii o, bonito, shrimps, soft-shell crabs, English prawns, and other species prized 

 by epicures, are found in this market, but the aggregate quantity is small. The bulk of the fresh- 

 fish business is in ground fish, salmon, halibut, lobsters, and clams. Salmon, shad, bluefish, 

 mackerel, and any species that are taken only at certain seasons of the year, can be had at any 

 time in the frozen state. During the season when they are plenty they are spread out in huge 

 refrigerators, charged with ice and salt, and frozen solid. They are then piled like billets of wood 

 in other large refrigerators, where a temperature of about 10 above zero is maintained. They are 

 taken from the refrigerators as wanted, being found frozen solid even during the warmest weather. 

 The demand for frozen fish is not large, and only one firm pays much attention to freezing them. 

 Dealers claim that the demand for fish that are out of season is too small to justify a great expend- 

 iture of time or money in freezing them. 



Soon after being landed, fresh fish are packed in boxes holding an average weight of 425 

 pounds, with from 40 to 50 pounds of crushed ice packed with them. They are also packed in old 

 flour barrels, holding from 200 to 225 pounds offish, with 20 to 25 pounds of ice, the barrels being 

 covered with tea-chest matting or sacking. They are then shipped to any part of the country, 

 Chicago and Saint Louis being the practical western limit of destination. Dealers state that one- 

 half of the total amount is consumed in New England, one-fifth in New York City and State, while 

 Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, with the Middle and Western States, consume the 

 remaining three-tenths. New England orders are mostly shipped in barrels, while the large boxes 

 are sent to the leading cities. ' 



THE TRADE IN CANNED FISH. During the past few years an extensive business has grown up 

 in canned fish. Fish-balls, chowders, and uncooked mackerel packed in tin have found a ready 

 market, and large quantities have been packed in Boston. No lobsters or clams are canned in 

 Massachusetts, but that industry is centered on the coast of Maine, especially in the vicinity of 

 Penobscot Bay. It is estimated that some 2,112,000 1-pound cans of lobsters were packed on 

 that coast in 1879. Large as this amount appears, it is a fact that in years past an equal quantity 

 has been packed at individual ports, but owing to the present scarcity of lobsters several of the 

 large companies controlled by Boston and Portland capital are now obliged to open establishments 

 in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and other parts of the Provinces. 



During the year 1879, Boston firms packed in their factories in Boston and elsewhere, and 

 distributed from Boston, 9,649 cases or 463,152 cans of lobsters, valued at $57,894; 8,400 cases or 

 403,200 cans of salt mackerel, valued at $33,600; 20,000 cases or 240,000 cans of fresh mackerel, 

 valued at $90,000; 800 cases or 38,400 cans of smelts, valued at $4,800; 1,500 cases or 36,000 cans 

 of fish-chowder, valued at $7,500 ; 11,000 cases or 264,000 cans of fish-balls, valued at $38,500 ; and 

 1,500 cases or 36,000 cans of clam-chowder, valued at $7,500. A large proportion of the products 

 of the canneries controlled by Boston capital is distributed direct from the Eastern factories and 

 does not appear in this report. 



The duty on tin cans from the Provincial factories is so heavy as to practically shut them out 

 of this market. A large part of the product of these factories passes through the United States in 

 bond to the European markets. The products of the canneries are distributed all over the country, 

 but principally west and south. There is also a large European trade in canned lobsters and a 

 moderate demand for other fish productions in tin. 



Of the various specialties, fish-balls is the only one that is protected by a patent, a Boston 

 fish packer and dealer having obtained a patent for that article in March, 187S. They are com- 



