86 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



continue their work with little or no loss during the hottest weather. Their flakes are built so as 

 to run nearly east and west, and are so arranged that the tops may be easily turned on a central 

 axis. The fish are spread in the morning, and as the day advances and the heat increases the 

 flakes are tilted toward the north, so that the sun's rays shall fall obliquely on the fish, and thus 

 have little effect upon them. 



The property devoted to the curing of fish in Portland is valued at $26,000. The business 

 furnishes employment to twenty-one men during eight months of the year and to several addi- 

 tional ones during the busy season. The quantity cured in 1880 was somewhat larger than for 

 several years past, though Portland has long been extensively interested in the business. The 

 figures furnished by Messrs. C. & H. Trefethen, who are more extensively engaged in curing than 

 any other firm, show the business for 1880 to have been 49,426 quintals, of which nearly seven- 

 eighths were landed by Portland vessels. The catch was divided as follows : 21,788 quintals 

 large cod; 16,813 quintals small cod; 6,626 quintals hake; 1,437 quintals cusk; 1,369 quintals 

 pollock, and 1,193 quintals haddock. 



INSPECTION OF FISH. Portland is largely interested in packing and inspecting fish of differ- 

 ent kinds, including mackerel, herring, cod, haddock, sword-fish, and other species. She is more 

 extensively engaged in this business than any other city in the State, leading all cities in the 

 United States in the quantity of herring inspected, and is excelled only by Gloucester in the 

 quantity of mackerel packed. The mackerel are mostly taken by vessels belonging in Portland 

 and other Maine fishing towns, though a few vessels belonging to Cape Ann, Cape Cod, and 

 other fishing districts of Massachusetts pack in Portland to a greater or less extent. Nine firms 

 engage regularly in this branch of the business. They occupy property valued at $89,000 and 

 furnish employment to ninety-three men, forty-three of them being employed throughout the year. 

 Up to 1879 the inspection charges were $1.50 per barrel, but in the spring of that year the price 

 was reduced to $1.25. 



Mr. Charles Dyer, one of the leading packers in Portland, in referring to the business of the 

 city for 1880, writes: 



" Portland has packed, in round numbers, 75,000 barrels [76,417] of mackerel, valued, clear of 

 salt and packing, at about $5 a barrel. This has been a very prosperous year, and, were it not for 

 the English mackerel coming into the country free of duty, it would have been more so." 



After speaking of the habit of packing English fish under American brands by the fish inspect- 

 ors of other cities, and of the injury to the trade resulting therefrom, he continues : 



"Portland does not handle any English-caught mackerel, and for this reason Portland mack- 

 erel stand highest in market." 



The nearness to the extensive fall herring fisheries brings Portland into prominence in con- 

 nection with this trade. She has a fleet of her own engaged in the herring fishery, and, in addition, 

 buys nearly all of the fish taken by fleets of other portions of the coast, though Boothbay handles 

 a small percentage and Boston secures a considerable quantity. 



The figures furnished by Mr. E. G. Willard show 12,000 barrels to be the quantity of herring 

 handled in 1880. In addition to the above, Portland handled 1,800 barrels of pickled haddock and 

 cod, and a few barrels of sword-fish and alewives. 



SMOKED HERRING AND HADDOCK. Several Portland dealers have large smoke-houses, and 

 are engaged in the preparation of Finnan haddies and bloater herring. These parties have a 

 monopoly of the Finnan haddie trade of America. Eastport, the only other city extensively 

 engaged in the prepaiation of these fish, is working wholly under contract with the Portland 

 dealers, who purchase the products and distribute them to the trade. Jonesport, Vinal Haven, 



