MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 59 



Several photographs illustrating the appearance of the contents of 

 cans when packed with varying degrees of care and skill were taken. 

 The cans of sardines from which these photographs were made were 

 obtained at random from different canneries. While the illustrations 

 of the better appearing packs must not be regarded as representative 

 of the best packing to be found in the Maine sardine industry, they 

 indicate the kind of packing that should be demanded in the " stand- 

 ard" grade of Maine sardines. 



Figure 1, Plate XVI, shows two cans of well packed sardines, 

 brights up, contrasted with poorly packed cans that were packed 

 backs up. Carelessness in the packing process was responsible for 

 the inferior appearance of the unattractive can. The cans in figure 2 

 were well packed, but the fish had been roughly handled on the flakes, 

 causing breaking of the skin and other damage. 



Plate XVII is fairly representative of well packed cans, contrasted 

 with poorly packed cans. Figure 1 shows two cans packed the same 

 day with fish from the same weir, but at different canneries. The 

 cans were taken from the packing table before being oiled. The su- 

 periority of the cans at the left was typical of the entire product 

 of the cannery at that time, and did not represent any special 

 degree of perfection in packing. Figure 2 shows the cans taken 

 in the shipping room from the same lot as the well packed cans 

 shown in figure 1 after they had been oiled, sealed, and sterilized. 

 The disarrangement of the fish in the cans was caused by rough 

 handling received by the cans during the processing and the sub- 

 sequent handling. The mussy appearance of the fish is due to the 

 presence of particles from the gills of snipped fish and material 

 from the stomach and intestines. Figure 3 depicts three cans from 

 the lot of poorly packed goods shown in figure 1 after they had been 

 taken from the shipping room. The complete disarrangement of this 

 slack and poorly packed can is due to rough handling. One of the 

 cans selected proved to be a 3-fish can, showing the lack of grading 

 on the basis of the number of fish per can (p. 96). These sardines 

 also illustrate the utter lack of standardization on a quality basis. 



The kind of goods that brings the Maine sardine into disrepute is 

 shown in figure 2, Plate XIX. Practically all of the fish used for 

 this pack were belly-broken, from the action of feed, and were literally 

 thrown into the cans, with no effort to secure a neat appearance. 

 The fault here is not entirely the packer's, as there is no incentive 

 to pack carefully when material of such inferior quality is permitted 

 entry into the cannery. 



The conditions responsible for the quality of sardines, as repre- 

 sented in these photographs, can be attributed to (a) lack of uniform- 

 ity of opinion as to what shall constitute a fair quality of sardines, 

 (6) lack of desire on the part of a few to produce any standard 



