424 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
A correspondent writes as follows in the Yarmouth Herald of July 18, 1893, 
respecting the success of Mr. Whitman’s fish-drying apparatus at Halifax: 
Within the last few days I have had the privilege of visiting the extensive new fish-drying appa- 
ratus that has been put in operation in this city (Halifax) by the inventor, Mr. Thomas S. Whitman, 
of Annapolis. The building containing the apparatus and storage rooms has been constructed and 
com23leted and ojierations have commenced within the last month. It is a very large building, 50 by 
120 feet, and is situated on Liverpool wharf, where there is ample wharfage, and where a large amount 
of fish can he taken care of. Entering the building a very busy scene meets the eye; thousands of 
quintals of fish are seen in the various processes of washing, drying, and packing for the largest fish 
markets in the world. I was particularly struck with the rapidity of the operation. Mr. Whitman 
buys all the green-salted fish that offers; by his process they are dried perfectly in 48 hours, and arc 
ready to ship in less than a week from kenching. It is certainly a new departure in the handling and 
curing of fish. The new system invented and introduced by Mr. Whitman is a perfect drier, and at 
the same time the fish are so kept apart from each other during the entire process of drying that they 
are also ke^jt cool, the atmosphere by which they are dried being of about the same temperature 
required in the natural system of drying. It is astonishing to note the vast quantities of fish that can 
be cured in a short time; several thousand quintals per week is the capacity of this large concern, 
and it is certainly a busy hive of industry, one of the busiest in the provinces. To-day your corre- 
sjiondeut was shown about 8,000 quintals of fish that were being dried, and most of them were in the 
sea only a short time ago, and before the week closes they will be shipped in perfect order to the fish 
markets of the West Indies. Considering the large amount of foggy, wet weather that the people of 
the western counties generally have to meet during their fish-drying season, it would evidently be to 
the advantage of our largest fish-jiackers if they were to adopt the methods now used and invented by 
Mr. Whitman, for it is evident that a vast amount of time is thus saved in the curing of fish, while the 
uniformity of the curing is maintained throughout, every fish appearing in perfect order as a result of 
this process. As I stated before, it only required 48 hours to thoroughly dry the fish, and they are 
then ready for shiitmeut to any part of the world. 
It is estimated that the cost of drying codfish by the Whitman process from the 
water-horse to the finished product is about 30 or 35 cents per 112 pounds for fish 
suitable for the West India trade, this covering two dryings of 24 hours each and a 
sweating of 10 to 12 days. In jireparing fish for Central America or northern Brazil, 
2^ days’ drying is necessary, and tlie cost approximates 40 or 45 cents, while for 
southern Brazil the fish must be dried for 3 days by the Whitman process, and the 
cost is about 45 or 50 cents per quintal of 112 pounds. 
A number of other processes of artificial drying have been devised, but none of 
them have been adopted to any extent by the trade. 
