THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 513 
The oven above described is simply an ordinary baker’s oven of large size. It serves the pur- 
pose of not only drying, but at the same time cooking the fish. After the herring have been cut, 
salted, and thoroughly washed they are placed on “flakes,” when they are taken to the oven room 
and placed in a small chest, where they are subjected to the action of steam for several minutes. 
This opens the pores and breaks up the fiber of the flesh, so that evaporation will go on very rapidly. 
After being steamed for two or three minutes the “flakes” are transferred to the revolving arms in 
the oven, where the fish are subjected to a heat of about 250° Fahr. for from five to twenty minutes, 
according to circumstances. As soon as they have been removed aud allowed to cool they are 
ready for the cans without the additional cooking which is required by the other methods. The 
process of steaming has been patented by the American Sardine Company of Eastport, which 
originated the idea. ; 
By the method above described the time necessary for preparing the fish is greatly reduced, 
and it often happens that the herring are placed in the cans within two hours after they are brought 
to the cannery, while by the old method during foggy weather they are not unfrequently kept two 
days. Another advantage of the new process is found in the reduction of expenses; as boiling in 
oil, which is a large item in the expenses of the other canneries, is entirely done away with. The 
baked fish are considered equal in every particular, and by some they are even pronounced superior, 
to those prepared in the old way. 
“In France, various methods of drying have been resorted to, the principal one being that of 
exposing the fish to the sun and drying them by natural heat; but though this method is preferred, 
when the weather will not permit of sun-drying, the moisture must be evaporated by artificial 
heat. The driers used in that country are different from those employed at Eastport; from 
descriptions which have been seen of them it would appear that they resemble, in some par- 
ticulars, the fruit-dryer, and, in others, the regular baker’s oven. 
Mr. Frederick M. Wallem, of Norway, gives the following description of the drying process 
employed in the sardine fisheries of France: 
«When the weather does not permit of drying them in tle open air, an oven especially con- 
structed for this purpose is used; but this way of drying sardines does not answer the purpose so 
well and is more expensive. Sometimes, however, it cannot be avoided, and the point is to furnish 
a sufficient quantity of warm air which can be brought to bear upon the sardines quick enough to 
make them dry rapidly. 
‘“‘ The drying ovens which are commonly used resemble a long and narrow brick baker’s oven, 
with a fireplace at both ends and a drying place along its whole length. It depends on the heat 
and dryness of the atmosphere how long the sardines must be kept in the oven, and in order to 
regulate these two essential conditions a special drying apparatus has recently been invented. 
The model of this apparatus, which has been patented, has been exhibited in the French Depart- 
ment of Cooking and Distilling. It looked like five large closets placed side by side. The end 
closets contained ventilators and fans for distributing the warm air. The center closet was 
closed and the sardines were put in and taken out through the second and fourth closets. From 
the patentee I learn that this apparatus is constructed on the principle of the American cooling 
apparatus used in the slaughter-houses of the West; the main difference being that in the latter 
dry cold air is used, whilst the former requires dry hot air. Just as the fanning apparatus first 
pumps the warm air out of the bodies of the hogs and then exposes them toa strong current 
of cold air, thus in the French sardine drying apparatus a current of hot air is brought to bear 
upon the sardines after the cold damp air has been expelled. The sardines are kept on frames set 
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