PACIFIC SALMOls^ FISHERIES. 131 



The sides are then taken to the salter, who lays them, skin side 

 down, on a salting table, on which has been dumped a quantity of 

 dairy salt, and gently rubs the flesh with the salt, lifts it up with 

 only such salt as will adhere to it, and places it in the tierce. 



The tierces in which the salmon sides are packed are stout casks 

 made of fir or spruce, bound with six strong galvanized hoops. They 

 contain about 800 pounds of fish, but when full of pickle the gross 

 weight of cask and content is between 1,100 and 1,200 pounds. A 

 plug hole is bored in the head of the tierce. 



Two or three handfuls of salt are thrown over the bottom of the 

 tierce, then a layer of salmon sides, skin down, and tM^o or three hand- 

 fuls of salt are sprinkled over them. In packing two sides of fish, 

 crossed head and tail are packed close to opposite sides of the 

 tierce, the back or thick part of each side being jilaced close up 

 against the side of the tierce. Othei- sides of iish are packed from 

 the sides toward the center of the ticMce, napes and tails alternately, 

 the back of each side being drawn halfvxay up and resting on the 

 side already laid. \Mien complete, the layer should be perfectly 

 level, and this depends a good deal on how the last or center piece 

 is laid. iSalt is sprinkled between each layer in the manner and 

 quafitity noted above and the process continued until the tierce is 

 full. The tiers should be crossed in packing. The top layer should 

 be placed with the skin up and have extra salt put on. From 85 to 

 100 pounds of salt are used to 800 pounds of fish. 



The tierce is then headed up. aft(M- which pickle is poured in until 

 the tierce is quite full. This |)i(kle may be ma(l(> with the same 

 salt as is used for rou-;ing and sj)rinkling the fish. Perfectly clear 

 water should be provided and broken ic(> should b(> added in lilx-ral 

 quantities, if the weather is warm. Before using, the piclde should 

 be strained thioiigh a fine sieve or a clean cloth, to remove froth 

 and sediment. A centigrade saltnieter is used by most mild curei-s. 

 The pickle is made to a strength of at least !)()°, but it u.suaUy weakens 

 to ai)oiit 70° during the first 10 days of cure, whereas after re- 

 packing it should not readily come below 85°, and it should retain 

 that str(M)gth for a long time. 



When tii'rces have been 1\IUh\ willi pickle they are rolled inside a 

 cold-storage room, with a temperature of '.i'i to 38° F., where they 

 may be tiered two tiers high. Very little variation in the temperature 

 is allowable, as it would start the oil or fat in the Ilesh, allowing 

 it to escape into the brine. 



Unless the tierces are kept quite fuU of pickle the sides of fish 

 are apt to be broken when the cask is rolled about. The tierces 

 must be examined frerjuently to see that they are full of brine, as 

 there are always small leaks, while the staves absoib more or less 

 moisture. Furthermore, if the tierces w^ere allowed to leak, ugly 

 yellow spots would show on the parts of the fish that were left dry. 

 Thus it is of the utmost importance, both during the two or three 

 weeks allowed for pining and also after rej^acking, to see that they 

 are kept full of pickle. iSeveral gallons ot j>ickle may be absorbed 

 by each cask during the first two or three weeks of cure. 



TIk! actual shrinkage duiing the two or threes weeks in which the 

 fish lie in the fii-st packing may be reckoned at 'M) per cent. Fat, 

 well-conditioned fish, aspeciaily those which ar(> caught in the ocean, 

 shrink less, but poor fish, especially those caught when well on their 



