42 () BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
However they may be dressed, it is important that the fish be salted as soon as 
in’acticable after removal from the water — in the meantime being protected from the 
sun, from bruising, etc. In case the fish have been dressed they are usually washed 
and soaked to remove all the blood. In salting, the fish are placed in the barrels or 
butts, with dry salt sprinkled among them, the quantity used ranging from 20 to 25 
])ounds to 100 pounds of fish. On the iSlew England coast Trapani salt is generally 
used, except in the case of mackerel and one or two other species, for which Liverpool 
salt is i)referred. On the Oreat Lakes, Syracuse and Warsaw salts are preferred, 
but the other kinds are used to some extent. Along the Middle and South Atlantic 
coast Liverpool salt is usually employed. The dry salt unites with the moisture in 
the fish, making a pickle which soon strikes through the fish. If thin, dry fish are 
being cured, it is sometimes well to add strong brine to aid in forming the pickle. 
After a time, averaging for most species about a week or ten days, the fish are 
cured, and should then be placed in packages suitable for the market with additional 
salt sprinkled among the fish, and the package completely filled with strong brine. 
The principal difficulty encountered is the liability of the fish to rust; but by using- 
strong pickle and tight barrels, so that the fish are covered with iiickle all the time, 
this tendency may be easily overcome except during very warm weather. 
The quantity of salt used in pickling fish varies according to the size and condi- 
tion of the species handled, and experience and knowledge of the particular market 
for which they are intended are the best guides in every instance. A mild-cured fish 
is preferred to one heavily salted; but if too little salt is used the pickle is likely to 
slime or sour and the fish become rusty. It is therefore usually desirable to err on 
the side of too much salt rather than too little. Occasionally, to insure perfect pres- 
ervation, it is necessary to nse so much that the flavor of delicate species is more or 
less injured. Sugar is sometimes employed to modify the action of the salt and to 
improve the flavor of the articles pickled when it is not desired to keep the product 
for a considerable length of time, as in case of pickling salmon. But the use of sugar 
is sometimes attended with fermentation unless the pickled products be kept at a low 
temiierature ; and glucose is now sometimes substituted. The fish are first struck in 
salt and then packed in a suitable receptacle with a solution composed of about 3 
I)ounds of glucose, 10 pounds of salt, and 5 gallons of water, the glucose being 
dissolved in the water before the salt is added. 
Pickled fish are placed in a great variety of packages adapted to the trade for 
which they are intended and ranging in capacity from tierces, each containing 300 
pounds, to small kegs containing only a pound. Mackerel, sea herring, salmon, cod, 
and the like, are mostly put up in whole barrels of 200 pounds net capacity. River 
herring or alewives are generally placed in 160-pound barrels, while the bulk of mullet, 
lake herring, whitefish, trout, and other lake species are usually packed in half-barrels 
of 100 pounds capacity. Most of these species, however, are also placed in packages 
varying from 50 pounds to 10 iiounds, suitable for the various requirements of the 
retail trade, each package being branded with the weight of the fish therein. 
Carefulness in the selection of the packages is of great importance. Those nsed 
on the New England coast are manufactured mostly in Maine, Bangor being the 
center of the industry, and the 100-pound barrels or half-barrels used on the Great 
Lakes are made principally at Sandusky ; but while the products of those two cities 
are the standards, many fish barrels are made at various other points. Wood which 
imparts a peculiar flavor to the fish should not be used for making the barrels, unless 
