84 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



the number of cans that will be required, and that the maistry 

 obtains these cans from a stock kept ready and clean for use ; it is 

 not good business to begin to clean the empties when the fish have 

 already arrived. These empties are then ranged on the tables in 

 the packing room, and the oil and condiments required are placed 

 in proper quantity in the cans ready for the packers. The superin- 

 tendent will have determined the character of the packing on his 

 knowledge of the goods required and the nature of the fish. 



Packing is done by women and children, and the precise mode 

 depends on the shape of the can and the size and character of the 

 fish. The quantity of oil, usually in the neighbourhood of I oz. 

 for a quarter tin of sardines, is determined by the superintendent 

 and maistry, and depends largely upon the fatness or leanness of 

 the fish. Much judgment is here needed, for stinted oil often 

 means spoilt fish, while on the other hand an excess of oil is mere 

 waste if the fish are fat ; moreover if the tins are packed too full, 

 much oil is squeezed out in pressing down the covers, especially if 

 the tins are solderless and the covers deeply dished and very 

 forcibly pressed down by the double seamer. There must always 

 be due proportion between the fish and the oil, so that on the one 

 hand the fish are packed sufficiently closely to prevent movement 

 in the can and to give the consumer good value, on the other to 

 give room, where oil is used, for a sufficiency of oil to enrich the 

 fish and utilise the flavour of the condiments. 



As mentioned above s,v. frying, packed tins of fried and sterilised 

 fish can, if covered with oil. be kept over till next morning if the 

 rush of work entirely prevents the final closing and processing of 

 the cans. 



TOO. (6) Closing (Sealing). — This has been dealt with above 

 paragraphs 24 — 43, and is a purely mechanical process whether 

 soldering or seaming. The only necessity is that the work 

 shall be done with the utmost care; in soldered cans that the 

 solder shall be of good quality, the edges of covers and bodies 

 clear of rust, the flux non-poisonous, e.g., rosin, and the solder 

 applied neatly and rapidly with due economy yet without leaving 

 the smallest pin hole. In the case of solderless tins the rubber or 

 composition washers or the sealing solution must be continuous 

 and evenly affixed to the covers, elastic and not hard or fragile, 

 the double seamer perfectly adjusted, and the attendant sufficiently 

 skilled to give the machine its full closing value; it is easy to 



