WALLEM ON AMERICAN FISHERIES. 97 



freight amounts to so much per ton of the whole room occupied ; this 

 trip, about 30s. per ton. The apparatus employed returns free in the 

 steamer, and the vacant room is used by the vessel for other freights. 



The third refrigerating-room had cold air instead of cold water, wooden 

 air-tubes 14 to 15 inches wide instead of the leaden water-pipes of 2J 

 inches diameter. The current of air which is to cool off the room and 

 keep the temperature low is set in motion by a blowing-arrangement 

 which is driven by a little steam-engine of J horse-power. The blower 

 which stands upon the first deck makes 180 to 210 strokes per minute. 

 This drives the air through a box of ice and salt down into the room, 

 which is everywhere penetrated by it ; it is led back in a similar way 

 through a box filled with ice and salt, and comes from this up again 

 under the fan, which forces it downwards in an endless round as long as 

 there is meat to be preserved in the room. The temperature, which is 

 here controlled, within the blower, is in the room about as in the cold- 

 water rooms, but often 3° Fahr. lower. The principle is the same, 

 and no one is able to point out any difference of advantage of one 

 over the other system. Both are considered excellent. This cold-air 

 room w^as 30 feet long, two decks high, and for the rest extended along- 

 side over the whole peak. This accommodated 250 whole beef carcasses, 

 which hung in two layers, one for each deck's height. The box in which 

 the fan worked was only 5 feet high, 2^ feet long (alongships), and 1^ 

 feet broad (athwartship). The exi>enses were met as in the other room, 

 and the freight was paid, as there, only for the room occupied. 



This, then, was the information I had to convey, and which I believed 

 would be a matter of interest. One may see herein why the ice treat- 

 ment of provisions is employed in America in the different industries 

 and for different purposes. That something similar might be iiracticed 

 in Norway api^ears to be a conclusion not without foundation ; it is im- 

 portant only to overcome the difficulties and regulate the mode of treat- 

 ment which the Norwegian traffic must involve. But to point out more 

 in detail the practical mode of laying hold of the matter may be found 

 to lie somewhat outside of my present task ; it will be enough to indi- 

 cate incidentally that the wealth of our country in game, fish, and other 

 provisions which are mainly used fresh, might be made serviceable to a 

 great extent if the tradesmen interested should follow the example of 

 the Americans. The many fast steamers along the whole coast and go- 

 ing to foreign countries ajipear to me, for instance, well enough fitted as 

 a field of experiment for such a refrigerating-room ; yes, merely having 

 ice-boxes on board a large steamer for chartering for the use in question 

 might perhaps be found both a good speculation for the owners and a 

 convenient and noteworthy arrangement for the consignors and con- 

 signees in our large cities and in foreign countries. 



It remains to prove by an adequate trial of such enterprise what I, 

 for my part, consider for the present as certain, namely, that the using 

 of ice is a practical method of preserving and transporting jirovisions 

 7 F 



