THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 491 
are able to secure good results, and it is a rare occurrence to have a swollen can. If there is one, 
it is at once thrown aside. 
“¢Our company was incorporated April 21, 1871, under the laws of the State of New York. 
Seeing the magnitude of the sardine business on the other side of the Atlantic, we were impressed 
with the idea that there was a large field for operations in this country alone. We at once set 
about to find a fish which would supply the place of the European sardine. After many experi- 
ments, we at last found one to suit the purpose, viz, the mossbunker, and commenced a series of 
experiments to find a means of extracting or softening the bones without the use of acids of any 
kind. After over a year of experiment, we at last found the desired process, which we secured 
under United States letters patent, dated May 21, 1872. This process consists of various modes 
of steaming until the bones become so soft that they can be eaten, like the flesh of the fish, 
without the slightest inconvenience. The first two years most of our time was consumed in 
experimenting, so that it was not until a year ago that we really commenced to manufacture, 
though prior to that we put up some goods. Last year, 1873, we packed and sold about 30,000 
dozen whole cans or boxes. We have now capacity to turn out double that amount and we 
expect to be obliged to do so, as our trade is rapidly increasing. Our goods have received various 
awards, including a medal of merit at Vienna in 1873, and a silver medal at Bremen in 1874.’ 
“During the season of 1877, the works of the American Sardine Company were not in 
operation. Mr. Beals, the secretary, informs me that the manufacture will be pressed strongly in 
1878, * * * 
“ There are other establishments near Port Monmouth which prepare menhaden in spices and 
vinegar under the trade names of ‘Shadine,’ ‘Ocean Trout,’ and ‘American Club-Fish.” I have 
been unable to obtain statistics of this branch of manufacture. Hoope & Coit, of New York, 
contributed samples of these preparations to the Centennial collection of the United States Fish 
Commission, and I suppose this firm to be engaged in the manufacture.”* 
In speaking of the quality of these fish Professor Goode remarks: 
“Many persons are incredulous with regard to the possibility of manufacturing sardines of 
good quality from the menhaden. It need only be said that they have been carefully tested by 
“many unprejudiced judges in the city of Washington, and that the verdict has always been that 
they were almost equal to French sardines of the best brands. There can be no reasonable doubt 
that if olive oil of good quality were to be substituted for the cotton-seed oil now used in the 
preparation of American sardines, they would be fully equal to similar articles imported from 
abroad.” + 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE USE OF HERRING FOR “ RUSSIAN SARDINES” LEADS TO THEIR USE 
FOR OIL SARDINES.—About the year 1872 the small herring that were being imported from Ger- 
many under the name of “Russian sardines” suggested the idea of using the herring taken at 
Eastport as a substitute, and experiments were soon under way. The “home-made Russians” 
were found superior to the imported ones, and their manufacture soon became an important busi- 
ness. This led to a better knowledge of the abundance of the small herring in the locality, and in 
the fall of 1875 Mr. Henry Sellmann and Mr. Julius Wolff, of New York, began experiments in 
putting up the herring in oil, under the direction of the Eagle Preserved Fish Company, of which 
they were both members. They were successful in finding a method by which a superior quality 
of sardines could be put up. As the result of their labor these gentlemen have had the satisfaction 
* Report of U. 8. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Part V, 1877, pp. 137-138. 
t Ibid., p. 138. 
