THE SAKDINE INDUSTRY. 513 



The oven above described is simply an ordinary baker's oven of large size. It serves the pur- 

 pose of not only drying, but at the same time cooking the fish. After the herring have been cut, 

 salted, and thoroughly washed they are placed on " flakes," when they are taken to the oven room 

 and placed in a small chest, where they are subjected to the action of steam for several minutes. 

 This opens the pores and breaks up the fiber of the flesh, so that evaporation will go on very rapidly. 

 After being steamed for two or three minutes the "flakes" are transferred to the revolving arms in 

 the oven, where the fish are subjected to a heat of about 250 Fahr. for from live to twenty minutes, 

 according to circumstances. As soon as they have been removed and allowed to cool they are 

 ready for the cans without the additional cooking which is required by the other methods. The 

 process of steaming has been patented by the American Sardine Company of Eastport, which 

 originated the idea. 



By the method above described the time necessary for preparing the fish is greatly reduced, 

 and it often happens that the herring are placed in the cans within two hours after they are brought 

 to the cannery, while by the old method during foggy weather they are not uufrequently kept two 

 clays. Another advantage of the new process is fouud in the reduction of expenses; as boiling in 

 oil, which is a large item iu the expenses of the other canneries, is entirely done away with. The 

 baked fish are considered equal in every particular, and by some they are even pronounced superior, 

 to those prepared in the old way. 



In France, various methods of drying have been resorted to, the principal one being that of 

 exposing the fish to the sun and drying them by natural heat ; but though this method is preferred, 

 when the weather will not permit of sun-drying, the moisture must be evaporated by artificial 

 heat. The driers used in that country are different from those employed at Eastport; from 

 descriptions which have been seen of them it would appear that they resemble, in some par- 

 ticulars, the fruit-dryer, and, in others, the regular baker's oven. 



Mr. Frederick M. Wallem, of Norw ay, gives the following description of the drying process 

 employed in the sardine fisheries of France : 



" When the weather does not permit of drying them iu the open air, an oven especially con- 

 structed for this purpose is used ; but this way of drying sardines does not answer the purpose so 

 well and is more expensive. Sometimes, however, it cannot be avoided, and the point is to furnish 

 a sufficient quantity of warm air which can be brought to bear upon the sardines quick enough to 

 make them dry rapidly. 



" The drying ovens which are commonly used resemble a long and narrow brick baker's oven, 

 with a fireplace at both ends and a drying place along its whole length. It depends on the heat 

 and dryness of the atmosphere how long the sardines must be kept in the oven, and in order to 

 regulate these two essential conditions a special drying apparatus has recently been invented. 

 The model of this apparatus, which has been patented, has been exhibited in the French Depart- 

 ment of Cooking and Distilling. It looked like five large closets placed side by side. The end 

 closets contained ventilators and fans for distributing the warm air. The center closet was 

 closed and the sardines were put in and taken out through the second and fourth closets. From 

 the patentee I learn that this apparatus is constructed on the principle of the American cooling 

 apparatus used in the slaughter houses of the AYest ; the main difference being that iu the latter- 

 dry cold air is used, whilst the former requires dry hot air. Just as the fanning apparatus first 

 pumps the warm air out of the bodies of the hogs and then exposes them to a strong current 

 of cold air, thus in the French sardine drying apparatus a current of hot air is brought to bear 

 upon the sardines after the cold damp air lias been expelled. The sardines are kept on frames set 

 SEC V 33 



