THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 491 



are able to secure good results, and it is a rare occurrence to have a swollen can. If there is one, 

 it is at once thrown aside. 



"'Our company was incorporated April 21, 1871, under the laws of the State of New York. 

 Seeing the magnitude of the sardine business on the other side of the Atlantic, we were impressed 

 with the idea that there was a large field for operations in this country alone. We at once set 

 about to find a fish which would supply the place of the European sardine. After many experi- 

 ments, we at last found one to suit the purpose, viz, the niossbnnker, and commenced a series of 

 experiments to find a means of extracting or softening the bones without the use of acids of any 

 kind. After over a year of experiment, we at last found the desired process, which we secured 

 under United States letters patent, dated May 21, 1872. This process consists of various modes 

 of steaming until the bones become so soft that they can be eaten, like the flesh of the fish, 

 without the slightest inconvenience. The first two years most of our time was consumed in 

 experimenting, so that it was not until a year ago that we really commenced to manufacture, 

 though prior to that we put up some goods. Last year, 1873, we packed and sold about 30,000 

 dozen whole cans or boxes. We have now capacity to turn out double that amount and we 

 expect to be obliged to do so, as our trade is rapidly increasing. Our goods have received various 

 awards, including a medal of merit at Vienna in 1873, and a silver medal at Bremen in 1874.' 



"During the season of 1877, the works of the American Sardine Company were not in 

 operation. Mr. Beals, the secretary, informs me that the manufacture will be pressed strongly in 

 1878. * * * 



" There are other establishments near Port Moumouth which prepare menhaden in spices and 

 vinegar under the trade names of 'Shadine,' < Ocean Trout,' and 'American Club-Fish.' I have 

 been unable to obtain statistics of this branch of manufacture. Hoope & Coit, of New York, 

 contributed samples of these preparations to the Centennial collection of the United States Fish 

 Commission, and I suppose this firm to be engaged in the manufacture."* 



In speaking of the quality of these fish Professor Goode remarks : 



" Many persons are incredulous with regard to the possibility of manufacturing sardines of 

 good quality from the menhaden. It need only be said that they have been carefully tested by 

 many unprejudiced judges in the city of Washington, and that the verdict has always been that 

 they were almost equal to French sardines of the best brands. There-can be no reasonable doubt 

 that if olive oil of good quality were to be substituted for the cotton-seed oil now used in the 

 preparation of American sardines, they would be fully equal to similar articles imported from 

 abroad."! 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE USE OP HEREING FOR "RUSSIAN SARDINES" LEADS TO THEIK USE 

 FOB OIL SARDINES. About the year 1872 the small herring that were being imported from Ger- 

 many under the name of "Russian sardines" suggested the idea of using the herring taken at 

 Eastport as a substitute, and experiments were soon underway. The "home-made Russians" 

 were found superior to the imported ones, and their manufacture soon became an important busi- 

 ness. This led to a better knowledge of the abundance of the small herring in the locality, and in 

 the fall of 1875 Mr. Henry Sellmann and Mr. Julius Wolff, of New York, began experiments in 

 putting up the herring in oil, under the direction of the Eagle Preserved Fish Company, of which 

 they were both members. They were successful in finding a method by which a superior quality 

 of sardines could be put up. As the result of their labor these gentlemen have had the satisfaction 



* Report of U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Part V, 1877, pp. 137-138. 

 tI6W., p. 138. 



