260 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



primitive methods of work. In one of them a fire is made under fonr 

 cast-iron stationaiy boilinii' vats holdini^' about 2 barrels of lisli each. 

 By means of a trougli leading from a pnmp, watei- is permitted to run 

 into the vats.. After sufficient cookhii;-, the fish are scooped onl with 

 lai'ge dip nets and i)ut on a platform, whence they are pitched into 

 tub presses having alining of coarse canvas, li^y means of a vertical 

 screw operated by a horizontal lever, pi'essure is applied to the mass, 

 and the exuding oil runs through a trough to the oil vats. Another 

 Chesapeake factory has six iron cooking- vats, in which are suspended 

 an equal number of iron latticed l)askets containing the fish. After 

 cooking, the baskets are transferred by means of a crane and the fisli 

 placed in an hydraulic press. This method of cooking was formerly 

 in general use all along the coast frequented bj^ the menhaden. 



In the best-equipped factories the fish are renioved from the hold 

 of the steamer, where they have been stowed in bulk, by means of a 

 bucket elevator. This contrivance, so important in the handling of 

 grain and coal, was not introduced in the menhaden business until 

 1890, when a factory at Tiverton, R. I., was equipped with one. At 

 present, however, they are in use in all the principal factories, 

 liefore their adoption the fish were shoveled into measuring tubs in 

 the vessel's hold, and these raised and dumped in elevated receiving 

 bins, or into cars holding 1 5 or 20 barrels each and running on inclined 

 tramways to the receiving bins, requiring five or six hours to dis 

 charge 1,000 barrels. By using the bucket elevator, with four men to 

 feed it, 1,000 barrels of fish nuiy easily be discharged in an hour. 

 This decrease in length of time required for discharging is frecpiently 

 a matter of great importance when fish are abundant, as it enables 

 the steamers to speedily return to the llshing-grounds. 



The elevator dumps the fish into one of a pair of automatic weighing- 

 hoppers, Avith a dial-scale indicator of 1-ton capacity. When the 

 required weight is in the hopper, by means of a lever the incoming 

 fish art; directed into the other hopper, and the bottom of the full one 

 is dropped, thus dumping its contents into a conve3'or, Avhich deposits 

 the fish into a receiving bin with capacity of 6,000 or 8,000 barrels. 



The weighing of the fish is necessary to secure a record of the 

 <iuantity received, furnishing a basis for compensating the cai)tains 

 of the vessels, and for other purposes. It thus appears that this 

 method of discharging changes the standard of measurement from 

 bulk to weight. Although it is customary to reckon the quantily of 

 menhaden by so many thousand, the fish are not counted. An arbi- 

 trary size of 22 cubic inches is the standard measurement for each 

 fish, or 22,0()0 cubic inches to the thousand. Two hundred pounds 

 represent one barrel, and 3^ barrels represent 1,000 fish. The size 

 of the fish varies considerably, and the actual number required to 

 make "one thousand " in measure ranges from 500 to 2,000 in number. 



The floor of the largo receiving bin slants toward the longitudinal 



