HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 513 



take breath for the first time. lu these the fish are allowed to remain 

 for two or three hours, at the end of which they are thoroughly cured, and 

 are transferred to the zinc-covered tables, 8 feet by C, with raised edges. 

 In this i)osition water is i)oured on tiiem, and afterwards drained off in 

 tubes connecting with the corners. The cooking cans, tin boxes a little 

 larger than the ordinary packing cans, next receive them, and are then 

 l)laced in steam tanks, seven in number, of a capacity of a ton each. 

 Here they are left for two hours, during which they are thoroughly 

 cooked. After being taken out and packed in the regular market-cans, 

 the fish are conveyed to other tables, on which the process of oiling is 

 gone through. Olive-oil is poured on them until the cans can hold no 

 more, and the latter then passed to the tinners, of whom the company 

 employ thirty-five, to go through the process of soldering. From this 

 department they are taken back into another set of steatn-tanks to be 

 heated for venting. When the tin is at a proper temperature the can 

 is taken out and a small hole opened at one end, through which the hot 

 air is suffered to escape, and the aperture is then hermetically sealed. 

 In the room adjoining the cans are packed in wooden cases for shipping, 

 two dozen to the case. The retail price per full sized can, containing 

 from seven to nine fish, is fifty cents ; that of the same size of the French 

 imported goods, $1.10 in gold. The buildings of the company include a 

 large factory, 3G0 feet long by 120 broad, and from four to five stories in 

 height, and a boarding-house for their employes. The former contains 

 the necessary rooms for the various departments of the work already 

 described, together with the machinery and equipments, most of which 

 are original with the i)resent enterprise. The engine UvSed is of fifty 

 horse-power, am[)ly sufficient for all ordinary purposes. The company 

 board and lodge all their hands, make all the tin-work, cans, &c., and 

 keei) tlieir own teams and carts for hauling their goods to the dock at 

 Port ]Monmouth. The pay-roll of the establishment, excluding the 

 board and lodging of all the workmen, is about $3,000 a month, reach- 

 ing during the busiest part of the season as high as $1,000 per week. 

 The boarding-house contains accommodations for 180 men, including 

 dining rooms, sleeping rooms, &c. Everything is kept clean and in 

 order, and the health and comfort of the inmates sedulously cared for. 

 A long dock has been constructed near the entrance to the main build- 

 ing, in 15 feet of water, where the sloops and boats unload their cargoes. 

 Several hundred thousand dollars have been invested in the business, 

 the facilities of which are being enlarged annually. Besides the home 

 business, done with every State in the Union, the company ship large 

 consignments to foreign ports, including Liverpool, Hamburg, and other 

 places. At the Vienna Exposition of last year their contributions at- 

 tracted much attention, and were unanimously awarded the gold medal 

 of honor and the grand diploma of merit. An agency was also estab- 

 lished in that city for Austria and liassia, which has since acquired a 

 fine business. At home they have received fl ittering indorsements and 

 33 F 



