THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 687 



Mass., and New London, Conn., the customary price was 4 cents per pound. In Rhode Island, it 

 ranged from 3 to 4 cents per pound for lobsters over 10 inches long, half price being charged for 

 all under that size. In that State the prices advanced half a cent per pound from 1879 to 1880. 

 On the New Jersey coast the fishermen received about 3J cents per pound. 



MARKET PRICES. The dealers' prices in the three largest markets of the coast were about as 

 follows, in 1880: Portland, about 7 cents each by count; Boston, about the same; New York, 6 

 cents per pound from May to December, 8 cents per pound during December and January, and 

 124 cents per pound from February to May. The retail prices in New York for the same year and 

 seasons in the order given above were 10, 12J, and 15 cents, respectively. During the summer of 

 1882, on account of the unusual demand, lobsters were sold at wholesale in New York at prices 

 ranging all the way from 6 to 25 cents per pound. 



The retail prices are usually much higher than the wholesale, even in many sea coast towns 

 located in rich lobster districts, being often nearly double. Boiled lobsters also bring a higher 

 price than live ones. 



7. THE CANNING INDUSTRY. 

 EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF THE INDUSTRY, HISTORY, &C. 



REVIEW. The lobster canning industry of the United States, with that of the British Prov- 

 inces owned or controlled by American capital, is of great importance, and from the introduction 

 of the lobster canning process at Eastport, Me., about 1842, dates the beginning of the extensive 

 canning interests of the United States in all its branches. About two-fifths ($289,000) of the 

 entire capital ($713,000) invested in the lobster fishery in the United States is directly applied to 

 the canning interests, and of the products of the fishery as they enter into consumption about 

 one-third of the entire value comes from the canneries. 



Lobster canning in the States is confined exclusively to Maine, in which, in 1880, there were 

 twenty-three canneries in operation. The capital stock of these canneries is mostly owned in 

 Portland and Boston by five companies. The same companies also own or operate over forty 

 canneries in the British Provinces. Portland interests in both the Maine and provincial 

 canneries are greater than those of any other place in either Maine or the British Provinces, 

 representing or controlling sixteen canneries in the former and thirty-one in the latter. A number 

 of the Maine canneries are owned by the persons who run them, but most of these are operated in 

 the interests of the Portland and Boston firms. 



The products of the provincial canneries are shipped almost wholly direct to Europe, the 

 duty of 18 cents per dozen cans (nominally on the tin) interfering with their importation into the 

 United StateS. About^oue-half of the total amount canned in Maine is also exported to Europe, 

 the balance going mainly to the Western and Southern States. The majority of the canneries of 

 Maine do not limit operations to the canning of lobsters, but fish, clams, meats, fruit, and 

 vegetables are also prepared. Many of the details respecting the Maine canneries are given in the 

 coust review of the fishery. 



HISTORICAL NOTICE. It has been possible to prepare but a brief notice of the origin and 

 progress of lobster canning in the United States, but, although the statements obtained regard- 

 ing its early history were somewhat conflicting, it is believed that the following account is essen- 

 tially correct: 



Lobster canning was first attempted in the United States at Eastport, Me., shortly after 1840, 

 and was made successful in 1843, the methods finally employed having been borrowed from 

 Scotland, which country is said to have learned the process from France. For the successful 



