72 American Fisheries Society. 



and dislikes of the consuming public in different countries. 

 When they had well digested this, they decided to begin at 

 the bottom and work up, instead of as before, beginning at 

 the top and working down. 



They began first with crabs. Trained men from the 

 Imperial Fisheries Institute were sent abroad by the federal 

 government to study methods. These men, without any 

 blare of trumpets, (in fact but few people knew who they 

 were) went into plants as common workmen and watched 

 the various stages of preparation until they had mastered 

 the art. They then returned home and taught the commer- 

 cial canners. These, fortified with this expert knowledge, 

 installed modern canning machinery, and were soon tuning 

 out a product which drove our domestic canned crab almost 

 completely from the Pacific Coast market. At the same 

 time they were improving the product, and very materially 

 improving the container by perfecting one of the best lac- 

 quers known for the coating of the inside of the cans used 

 and thus preventing the product from blackening through 

 contact with the metal base should the tin be accidentally 

 cracked or scratched. 



After they had established their crab market they began 

 experimenting with sardines, but here they met with very 

 little success, although the last few years have shown an im- 

 provement in the demand from abroad. The same has also 

 been true with respect to the mackerel canning and pickling. 



During the last 6 years they have been devoting their 

 attention to the development of foreign markets for salmon 

 and cod. Modern sanitary plants have been erected in 

 Siberia for canning salmon, in some of which American 

 experts are employed, and the product prepared compares 

 favorably with that produced on this coast. 



With cod the work has been more difficult. The first 

 lots of dried cod were far from attractive and they met with 

 almost uniform condemnation. Again the experts who had 

 been trained at the Institute were requisitioned, and one by 

 one, they visited the various codfish producing sections of 

 the world and studied at first hand the different processes, 

 thence going to the consuming markets and studying their 

 likes and dislikes. Many of these experts have called upon 

 me upon arrival in this country, and I have always found 

 them earnest and indefatigable workers, trained to ob- 

 serve everything and ready to turn their hands to any kind 

 of work, no matter how laborious and disagreeable, only so 

 they could advance their knowledge of the subject. Some 

 of them have been kind enough to remember me with post 

 cards and letters throughout their travels, and it has been 



