318 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The salting is generally done in tubs, and but very rarely in boxes. 

 As a general rule Liverpool salt is used, but occasionally one-third Lis- 

 bon or Setubal salt is mixed with it. One counts 1 barrel of salt to 4.5 

 barrels of raw or 2 barrels of cured fish. No difference is made in this 

 respect between fresh fish and fish which have lain some time. Ex- 

 periments relative to the weight of the fish showed the following results : 

 Twelve hundred pounds of raw fish, when taken out of the salt-brine, 

 weighed 800 pounds ; therefore the loss of weight in the salt was 33.3 

 per cent. After having been dried for seven weeks the same quantity 

 of fish weighed 533 pounds, making the loss through drying 22.3 per cent. 

 The total loss was, therefore, 55.6 per cent, which corresponds to the 

 proportion given above, namely, 2 barrels dried from 4.5 barrels raw 

 fish. After the fish have lain in salt from four to seven days they are 

 taken out. If there is no opportunity to begin the drying process, the fish 

 are piled up in heaps, with a little salt between each layer. There is no 

 absolute rule as to how much salt is to be used; generally, however, 

 one-fourth barrel of salt is counted to 1 barrel of salted fish. The 

 fish remain in these piles until the drying process can begin, and the 

 winter fish generally remain until the first part of April. 



The washing which precedes the drying is done in boxes with salt- 

 peter, like those described before, with the only exception that both 

 sides are slanting. During the washing the necks are cleaned with 

 special care, and the thin black skin is completely removed. Brushes- 

 with a handle are used. Alter the fish have been washed they are laid 

 in small heaps, all turned the same way, and if possible in places where 

 the ground slopes a little. If the weather the next day is dry. the fish 

 are exposed to the air ; if not, they are covered with mats ; but the 

 heaps are not rearranged. When the fish have had one good drying- 

 day, they are arranged in square heaps, each containing at most one- 

 half ton (500 kilograms); thus they remain two or even three days, 

 when they are again spread out. After they have had two or three good 

 drying-days they are arranged in larger heaps, each containing 3 or 4 tuns, 

 when the pressing begins, the fish remaining in these heaps two or three 

 days between each spreading. As the drying progresses, the heaps are 

 made larger, containing 5 or tons, and the fish are spread out only 

 every third or fourth day. When the fish are arranged in these heaps, 

 care is taken that those which were at the bottom when spread out are 

 put on the top. The heaps are always well covered with ma ts. In no case 

 are stones placed on the top of the heap. The time occupied in drying- 

 is generally from five to seven weeks, sometimes more. As a general 

 rule the fish are dried on natural banks of stones or pebbles. In some 

 places a scaffolding is used, consisting of props two feet high across 

 which laths are laid (three to the foot). Such scaffoldings are preferred 

 to stone banks. During the drying season the sun is seldom warm 

 enough to hurt the fish. Sometimes, however, this will happen ; and 

 in that case the fish are, as with us in Norway, placed on edge, always 



