214 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



has been a much greater output from the thirty-three can- 

 neries of 1906 than from the sixty-one canneries of 1898. 

 An estimate was made in 1886 of the cost per case of 

 quarter-oil sardines. The material cost $2.83 and the labor 

 $1.17, making the total cost $4.00 per case at the factory. 

 In 1895 the cost per case was only $2.34 at the factory, 

 being made up of $1.42 for material and $.92 for labor. 

 This reduction in cost was due more largely to cheapness 

 in material than in labor. Of the total difference of $1.66 

 per case, 85 % was in material and 15% in labor. In 1906, 

 the value at the factory of all kinds of sardines was $2.35 

 per case, which differs little from the value ten years ago. 1 



The canning of other fish products is so closely connected 

 with that of canning sardines that it is not out of place 

 for mention to be made of it at this place. These canning 

 establishments put up cod, herring, clams, mackerel, men- 

 haden, and in some cases, when not preparing fishery prod- 

 ucts, they engage in the canning of berries and vegetables. 

 Formerly the canning of lobsters was an important part 

 of the business, but in the year 1895 the state enacted a 

 law prohibiting the capture of lobsters under ten and one- 

 half inches in length; and the larger lobsters are too 

 valuable for canning purposes. k . 



The number of canneries engaged in canning fish other 

 than sardines was seventeen in 1898, twenty-three in 1902, 

 and thirteen in 1905. These firms have been engaged for 

 the most part in canning clams. In 1876 large herring 

 were canned under the name of " sea-trout, " and in the 

 next year from the same kind of herring the canning in- 

 dustry evolved canned " brook-trout. " Mackerel were 

 added to the list of canned fish in 1880. The value of 

 these three products of the canning industry in 1880 was 



lAnsley Hall, pp. 467-468. 



