MASSACHUSETTS: BOSTON DISTEICT. 191 



higher price than the catch of the Pacific. Not the least among the desirable results secured by 

 the improved methods of packing is the clean and attractive appearance of the packages as com- 

 pared with the former loose mode of shipping. 



Boneless fish is dry cod, hake, cusk, or haddock, from which the skin and bones have been 

 removed. The stripped fish is then cut up into small or large pieces, and packed in various-sized 

 boxes. Simple as this process is, and always in use since fish have been used for food, it has 

 been protected by patents issued in 1868 and 1869, causing an endless amount of trouble among 

 the manufacturers, a royalty fee being charged. 



During the past five years this mode of placing fish on the market shows a large annual 

 increase. Boneless fish is packed mostly in small wooden boxes of convenient sizes, holding from 

 5 to 40 pounds, though a small amount is put up in paper boxes of 3 to 5 pounds each. This 

 excellent article has become very popular with all classes. Codfish commands the highest price, 

 while cusk, haddock, and hake follow as to value. During the year 1879 the aggregate amount of 

 fish of all kinds cut up as boneless amounted to 6,502,050 pounds. The loss or shrinkage in weight 

 is from 20 to 28 per cent, on cod and cusk, and about ..0 per cent, on hake, which leaves the aggre- 

 gate net amount of prepared fish 5,201,640 pounds. The industry gives employment to one hun- 

 dred and fifty men during the active season, or an average of eighty men during the entire year. 



In the infancy of the business the waste was more than a dead loss, being an incumbrance and 

 additional expense for removal, and was gladly given away to any one who would remove it. As 

 soon as its fertilizing qualities became known a demand sprang up, and from 50 cents to $1 a ton 

 was paid for it. The price advanced from time to time, as the demand increased, until, in 1879, $6 

 a ton was paid for fish skins and bones for the manufacture of guano and fish-glue. 



The sixteen firms at present engaged in handling dry and pickled fish and oil occupy the whole 

 or part of nineteen wharves in East Boston and the city proper. The amount of capital invested 

 in this branch of the fishing business, including the value of the wharves, is about $1,500,000, and 

 the number of hands employed is three hundred and seventy-nine. During 1879 the amount of dry 

 fish received in Boston was 201,963 quintals of cod, haddock, hake, pollock, and cusk, about one- 

 sixth of which came from the Provinces, and the balance from fishing ports in Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts. The receipts in 1880 were 221,103 quintals of the same varieties of fish, and in 1881 the 

 amount was increased to 244,967 quintals. 



The same firms that deal in dry and pickled fish also sell smoked herring and bloaters, that 

 are received from Eastport and other parts of Maine and the Provinces. The total receipts of these 

 fish in 1879 were 460,349 boxes of herring and 23,077 boxes of bloaters. In 1880 the amount was 

 443,597 boxes of herring and 20,603 boxes of bloaters. The receipts in 1881 reached 612,412 boxes 

 of herring and 30,429 boxes of bloaters. 



The trade in pickled fish is extensive, and includes mackerel, herring, alewives, salmon, salmon- 

 trout, and shad, received from New England fishing ports and from the Provinces. About half of 

 the total receipts of mackerel are from the Provinces, as is also the case with the receipts of herring, 

 while alewives, salmon, salmon-trout, and shad come chiefly from the Provinces. The total amount 

 of pickled fish received by Boston dealers in 1879 included 167,444 barrels of mackerel, 56,844 bar- 

 rels of herring, 6,522 barrels of alewives, 6,013 barrels of salmon, 1,437 barrels of salmon-trout, and 

 3,042 barrels of shad. In 1880 the amount received included 196,493 barrels of mackerel, 55,802 

 barrels of herring, 7,033 barrels of alewives, 2,892 barrels of salmon, 698 barrels of salmon-trout, 

 and 1,975 barrels of shad. Of the total receipts of mackerel in 1879, 15,275 barrels were taken by 

 Boston vessels, 34,138 barrels were landed in Boston by mackerel vessels belonging to other New 



