154 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
standard are pushed to the opposite side of the table. where a man 
stands ready to supply the requisite amount of fish to fill them. 
For the hand method of filling,a large pile of salmon is thrown upon 
a long table, making a kind of windrow in the middle from end to 
end. On either side are from 8 to 10 men who select and put into 
the cans large pieces of salmon at first, then smaller pieces to fill all 
vacant spaces. As the cans are filled they are pushed along the table 
to the can cleaners and weigher. 
The supply of salmon on the table is constantly being replenished 
by a man whose duty it is to keep the fillers occupied. In some hand- 
filling canneries each man has a box at his side, and as often as it 
is filled he carries it to an adjoining table, where the cans are washed 
or wiped, as the case may be, weighed, pieces of scrap tin (‘‘ chips”) 
put in, and the tops put on. They are then ready for the soldering 
nachine. Canneries were in existence a long time before any improve- 
ment was made in the method of getting the cans from the filling to 
the weighing and capping table. At the present time, in most can- 
neries where no filling machines are used, a revolving belt running in 
a wooden track about 14 inches above the table carries the filled cans 
to the weighing and capping table, where a man is stationed to receive 
them. This simple device is a great saving of labor. 
Salting.—Ilt is essential that all the cans contain the same amount of 
salt; otherwise hardly two cases of salmon would have the same flavor. 
This is an important feature, and one of the earliest things considered 
in salmon canning. If the eye were the judge of the amount of salt 
required in the cans, there would be little or no system connected with 
this branch of the work, consequently mechanical means must be 
employed. y 
One case of cans is salted at a single movement of the hand, thus: 
The workman stands in front of a table having a trough connected on 
the under side, into which slides a tray holding 36 or 48 cans. In the 
top of the table, corresponding to the number of cans, are holes 
arranged at equal distances apart, or in such a manner that if the table 
were filled with cans the center of each would be over one of the holes. 
On the under side is a sheet-iron plate which slides in a groove at the 
sides, and is worked either by a hand or foot lever. This plate is 
perforated with holes corresponding to those in the table above. A 
quantity of salt is thrown on the table, and immediately scraped off 
with a thin-edged board about 2 feet long and 3 inches wide, each hole 
being filled in the scraping, and the salt being prevented from falling 
through by the iron plate underneath. The lever is then pressed, 
moving the plate, and the salt falls into the cans below. This opera- 
tion can be repeated four or five times in a minute, and one man is 
thus able to keep the filling machine supplied with cans. 
