DRESSING AND PACKING. 21 



season should be small and kept moving constantly. Here the fish 

 of different classes and sizes are kept separate and made up according 

 to orders. 



The Porto Rican export, or hard-salted fish, and the slack-salted 

 fish are packed in drums, boxes, and bundles, of the sizes specified, 

 directly from this floor. All skinned fish whether whole, in strips, 

 cuts, or in packages are moved to another room for final preparation. 



DRESSING AND PACKING. 



The fish are taken to the skinning department according to the 

 orders to be filled. If the fish are to be put up as " absolutely bone- 

 less," then the fins are pulled out and the skin pulled off. The skin 

 is started at the napes and pulled in toward the middle of the back 

 and then pulled toward the tail. If the fish has been properly cured 

 the skin can be stripped off clean without tearing the flesh. If it 

 has been sunburned, the skin will not hang together well. After the 

 back has been skinned the fish is turned over and the dark lining 

 membrane of the napes is stripped forward so that the whole fish is 

 clean. The remaining portion of the backbone is cut out and the fish 

 is passed to the bone pickers, who remove with forceps the ribs and 

 any pieces of bone left in the body. If the fish are to be packed as 

 so-called " boneless," then the fins are only cut off and the thick part 

 of the backbone cut out closely, the small pieces of the fins, ribs, and 

 backbone being allowed to remain. The term " boneless " as used in 

 the trade is hardly appropriate and should be changed for one more 

 nearly descriptive of the real conditions. 



From bone picking to cutting is a short step. The table at which 

 this is done is made of boards with openings between them at regular 

 intervals. The fish are laid on the cutting table so that the best parts 

 come between the openings. A half dozen pieces or more may be 

 stretched out at a time across these openings, then a long-bladed knife 

 is swept through them and they are ready to be packed into fish cakes, 

 etc. A trough or miter box is also used for securing the same result. 



The pieces of fish are passed to girls, who sort them and weigh out 

 exactly a pound or two pounds, whatever the cake or package is to be. 

 Two good slices are selected to make the outside of the packages, 

 and short or narrow strips to make up the middle part. One packer 

 cuts his large fish on the diagonal in strips as wide as his package is 

 deep, so that when the package is made each piece will show a cut 

 across the grain for its full thickness. This is possible only with a 

 large fish. 



The fish cakes are all made in essentially the same way. The 

 weighed fish is passed to the cake maker, who selects, first, the piece 

 which will make a whole side and an edge and places it in the galva- 

 nized-iron mold; the smaller pieces are then put in, and last, the 



