104 DEPARTMENT OF THE XAYAL SERVICE 



final product. To'tbie proprietors and managers of all the factories it is but jvistice 

 to record here the warmest appreciation of the courtesy and candour shown by them 

 at all times. Every opportunity was given me to study the practical aspects of can- 

 ning, and the fullest information as to details of procedure was offered. This hearty 

 co-operation of the canners on both sides of the International Boundary with the 

 Biological Board of Canada has facilitated the work to a marked degree. 



General Practice in the Canneries. 



There does not seem to be any necessity for entering into a detailed description 

 of the equipment of the canneries. Articles have been published in the journals directly 

 concerned with the fishing and canning industries, and from these journals such 

 information as may be desired is readily to be secured. For a complete discussion of 

 the methods of treating the fish, of the systems of packing, and of the general pro- 

 cedure of the factories engaged therein. I would refer the readers to these journals*^ 

 Herein it is not proposed to deal even with these latter phases except in the briefest 

 possible manner. 



The herrings, caught in the weirs, are brought by boat to the canneries, are 

 hoisted into conveyers, and are rapidly deposi^ted in the brine tanks; here they lie 

 for a period of one and a half to two hours. The constitution of the brine varies; 

 usually sea-water with added salt is used, but in some cases I have seen emergency 

 supplies of fresh water for the purpose. After lying in the brine, the common method 

 is to put the fish on flakes, subject them for ten minutes to a treatment of live 

 steam, and later dry them in a room through whLch hot air is continually circulated 

 for one hour. The flakes laden with the steamed and partially dried fish are then 

 distributed among the packers; the heads are cut oif, and the fish packed in cans 

 with oil. The cans are automatically sealed, either by the rolling or the pressing pro- 

 cess, and are at once ready for the Seating. In some factories the preliminary steam- 

 ing is dispensed with, and a continual progression through a bath of cottonseed oil 

 at a temperature of 200°C. is substituted; such occupying two to three minutes; when 

 this procedure is adopted a slightly different flavour can be detected in the final 

 product. In some instances spices are added, more particularly where the object of 

 the packer is to provide a sardine which can compete with the brands imported from 

 Italy. 



CLEANING THE FISH. 



One important feature of the preparation of the fish for packing, is the frequent 

 jpractice of leaving in the entrails. In the early days of the industry, when the 

 methods of the European packers were more closely copied, it wa® usual to pull off 

 the head of the fish in such manner as drew out a large portion of the viscera. 

 To-day, however, while a few individual packers have the viscera removed, the greater 

 proportion of the sardines of the American continent are prepared with the entrails 

 intact. In view of the methods usually adopted in the canneries, there are certain 

 [practical difficulties which present themselves in connection with the eviscerating 

 of the small herrings. Of those difficulties I am fully aware, particularly when the 

 object is to produce a cheap sardine. At the same time, it is likely that such can be 

 overcome by mechanical means. When the investigation was started I was struck .by 

 the possible influence of the retention of the viscera, on the production of " swells " in 

 the canned sardine. Later work has thrown much light on the question, and in a 

 paper published separately the relationship here referred to is dealt with more fully, 

 and in the light of proof secured from considerable experimental work, 



HEATING, PROCESSING OR STERILIZING. 



After the fish are packed, and the cans have been sealed, the next step is the 

 heating. I use the term " heating " advised,ly- It should be here stated, that the 

 most common size in which sardines are canned is a size weighing from three to four 



