REPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 101 



The old method of lacquering- was to dip each can .separately by 

 hand, but the process was slow as compared with the present method. 

 A number of long boxes, each containing about a half-barrel of lac- 

 quer, with racks arrang'ed on the side for dr3'ing cans, composed th<i 

 entire apparatus. 



The lacquering machine is among the most recent improvements 

 introduced in canneries, but it has not been adopted to a very con- 

 siderable extent. B}^ its means, hov>^ever, it is possible to lacquer the 

 pack made each day, thereby saving- much time at the end of the season 



The work of labeling the cans comes next. Machines have been 

 invented to do this work, but for the most part it is done b}' hand, 

 and in the following- manner: From 8 to 10 men are seated in front of 

 the row of cans, about -l feet apart. Each man has in front of him a 

 bunch of several hundred labels, and by bunchin.g them on a slant, so 

 that a small margin of the bottom one proti-udes beyond the one above 

 it, he can apph"^ paste to the entire number with one stroke of the 

 brush. A can is placed in the center of the label, is quickly rolled, 

 and the label is on. The skill displaj^ed by many of the men and 

 women engaged in this work is remarka])le. Each man places to his 

 right the cans he labels, forming a pWe of length and width equal to 

 his unlabeled pile. When the entire lot hns been labeled it has been 

 shifted only about 4 feet. On the Columbia River and in the Puget 

 Sound region where the canneries put up fancy brands of salmon, 

 most of the cans are wrapped in colored tissue paper ))efore being- 

 labeled. 



It should be stated that while the lal)eling is going on the cans arc 

 receiving- another test. Each row is gone over as on previous occa- 

 sions — that is, the cans are tapped with a small piece of iron — and even 

 at this stage an occasional faulty can is found. These, however, had not 

 been 'overlooked in former tests, but defects which before were too 

 small for ol^servation have since developed. 



J3ranch of mhiton. — Each canner}' puts up several brands of salmon — 

 some a dozen or more. There are a number of reasons for this, one 

 being that there is more than one quality of salmon packed from a 

 single species; fish packed within twenty-four or thirty-six hours after 

 being caught are superior to those that lie on the wharf or in boats 

 four or five days. It is sometimes impossible to pack fish soon after 

 their arrival at the cannery, and in some cases they are much older 

 than they should be when put into the cans. Another reason is in the 

 demand in different parts of the countr}^ and abroad. Even one lot of 

 fish, packed in the same way, may be split into two or more 1)rands, 

 which are equally good. A certain l)rand of salmon with an estab- 

 lished reputation is sought by merchants in certain localities to the 

 extent of several thousand cases, and 30,000 or 40,000 cases of the 

 same brand in another part of the countrj'. No other brand will sell 



F. C. 1904 11 



