694 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



CANS. The cans used for the ordinary grade of canned lobsters are made in two sizes, the 

 one to hold one pound of meat, the other two pounds. They are cylindrical in shape, the one- 

 pound cans measuring 4 inches in height and 3 inches in diameter, and the two-pound cans 

 having the same height, but a diameter of 3J inches. 



The majority of the cans used at the factories owned by Portland capitalists are made in 

 Portland during the winter, the tinsmiths who make them being sent to the canneries during the 

 canning season to serve as sealers. Other canners usually have their cans made at the factories 

 during the winter, by some of the men who are also employed during the lobster season. A few 

 of the factories buy their cans, and some take contracts to put up the lobsters at a certain price 

 per dozen cans, the cans and cases being furnished by the capitalists. Mr. J. W. Jones employed 

 twenty men in Portland during four months of the winter to make cans for his factories, and 

 Messrs. Burnham & Morrill kept about ten men at the same work for three months. The latter 

 made on an average about five gross of cans per day, and received wages ranging from $10 to $12 

 a week. The cans for the South Harpswell factory are made at that place, and those for North 

 Haven and Deer Isle are made at North Haven. At South Harpswell four men and one boy are 

 employed, and at North Haven six men during four months ; they are paid at the rate of 45 cents 

 per gross. Eight gross could be made a day, but they are allowed to make but four gross. 

 At Boothbay, where cans are made, about two thousand are put together as a day's work after 

 the tin has been cut. 



The weight of the tin cans appears to vary somewhat at different places, but averages for the 

 one-pound cans about 5J ounces. At Oceanville the filled cans were made to weigh 14 ounces, 

 and at Green's Landing 16 ounces. 



OASES. The shipping cases are made partly at Portland and partly at the canneries, the 

 same as the cans. If made at the canneries, the shocks are generally received from Portland or 

 from the mills at some other place. They are constructed chiefly of pine, but sometimes of spruce, 

 and hold four dozen one-pound cans or two dozen two-pound cans of the ordinary grade. 



THE EEPUSE. The refuse of the canneries, generally called chum or scrap, and consisting of 

 the shells and such soft portions of the lobster as are not fit for canning, is often disposed of for 

 fertilizing purposes, and is favorably regarded as a manure for hay and some other crops. It is 

 also fed to hogs and poultry, but is said to give a reddish color and an unpleasant taste to the 

 eggs of the latter. Mr. J. Winslow Jones states that in May, 1878, he sent twenty-four young pigs 

 to his Boothbay factory, where they were fed almost exclusively on chum during the summer and 

 fall, and thrived well. It was estimated that forty hogs could have been kept on the refuse of 

 this one factory, and that by a short feeding of corn for about six weeks in the fall, they would 

 range in weight from 150 to 400 pounds, or average about 250 pounds each. 



When sold for fertilizing or other purposes the chum brings but a nominal price, and it is 

 probably more frequently given away for the hauling. At many canneries it is dumped into the 

 water, there being no demand for it. In some places, in 1880, the refuse of the entire season was 

 sold for $10 ; in others it brought 25 cents a ton, or $1 a cord, and sometimes even as high as 50 

 cents a wagon load. At South Harpswell it was thrown into a scow furnished by farmers of the 

 neighborhood, who obtained seventy-five such loads in 1880. About 175 tons were shipped to 

 Portland for fertilizing purposes, in 1880, from the Boothbay factory. At Eastport the scrap was 

 sold at 5 cents a barrel to the Bed Beach Plaster Company, who dried it and ground it with plaster. 

 Two thousand barrels were sold to them in 1879, and 1,500 barrels in 1880. For use on crops of 

 hay it is also generally ground. 



