108 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



posed of nearly equal parts of choice codfish aud potatoes. The fish are uncooked or parboiled, 

 and the potatoes are washed, boiled, and pared, with the greatest attention to quality, cleanliness, 

 and perfect cookery. The ingredients are then chopped as fine as possible by machinery, and at 

 the same time are intimately mixed. The mixture is then put up in cans of 1, 2, or 3 pounds each, 

 aud subjected to a steam bath. They are then hermetically sealed, and are warranted to keep in 

 any climate. 



Canned salt mackerel is an old article iu a new dress, being ordinary uncooked pickled mack- 

 erel with the heads aud tails cut off and packed iu 5-pound tin cans, one dozen cans iu a case. 

 They were introduced in 1879, and the packages being of convenient size for family use and 

 handsomely labeled, have been quite favorably received. In 1S79 there were 20,000 dozen cans, 

 of 5 pounds each, packed iu the Boston canneries. 



The canning of smelts was begun late in the fall of 1879. They are thoroughly cooked in 

 butter aud packed in 1 -pound cans, five dozen cans in a case. It is probable that large quantities 

 of smelts will hereafter be preserved in tin. 



A large export demand is promised for the various fish preparations in tin, aud some large 

 orders have already been filled for Europe, Australia, and the West Indies. Much improvement 

 is constantly being made in the methods and styles of packing aud labeling, and good satisfaction 

 has been given, so that a constantly increasing demand is created, especially throughout the 

 mining regions of this country and on the Pacific slope. 



The canning industry in Boston employs seventy men, fifty-six women, and a capital of 

 $40,000. The value of the products distributed from Boston in 1879, including those brought here 

 from eastern canneries, was valued at $239,794. 



THE LOBSTER AND CLAM INDUSTRIES. The lobster industry of Boston is important, though 

 not as extensive as when lobsters were more abundant. Over-fishing is said to have largely 

 diminished the number annually taken, and stringent laws are needed to save this fish from 

 extermination. They are received from Maine and from ports along the northern and southern 

 shores of Massachusetts. In 1881), 2,425,125 lobsters were received in Boston, of which number 

 798,571 came from Maine, 300,000 from Cape Ann and vicinity, 360,954 from the south shore and 

 Cape Cod, 50,000 from Nahant, 319,200 from Hull, aud the remainder from Boston Harbor and its 

 immediate vicinity. They are taken with the ordinary lobster pot. and are sold to the boiling 

 establishments, where they are boiled in sea-water in large zinc-liued wooden tanks. They are 

 then peddled in wheelbarrows throughout the city or shipped iu barrels covered with tea-matting 

 to various parts of the country, Chicago being the practical limit of distribution. Upwards of 

 $60,000 is invested in this industry in Boston, and about one hundred men are employed. 



Ninety men in and about Boston Harbor, with from forty to sixty dories, are employed during 

 the greater part of the year iu taking the soft or sand-clam, aud as many more men follow the busi- 

 ness occasionally. These clams are abundant on nearly all the flats and bottom-lands of Boston Bay. 

 Large quantities are also received from Cape Cod, the south shore towns, Saugus River, aud 

 other points east. In all, some 75,000 bushels or 24,000 barrels of clams, costing on an average, 

 including freight, $2 a barrel, arc annually received in Boston. The outfit for a clam digger con- 

 sists of a dory, clam-rake, oars, rubber boots, and buckets, and costs about $15 for the boat and 

 $7.50 for the other articles. Two men generally use a single boat, so that the individual invest- 

 ment is about $15 each. 



The towns about Boston usually charge a license fee of $2 a year for the privilege of taking 

 clams. The clams are in some cases bought up by small operators, who team them into the city, 



