PRESERVATION OP FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR POOD. 
433 
wliicli occur in fat fish, thus giving the fish a fat appearance. “Plowing” was begun 
about 1830, and although for a number of years there was great opposition to the 
innovation, it is at the present time recognized as a legitimate feature of the trade. 
The fatness of mackerel as well as the size determines the quality, and the degree of 
fatness is most readily ascertained by noting the portions covering the abdominal 
cavity. When the fish is very fat these portions crack open about halfway from the 
backbone to the center of the abdominal cavity, and the depth of these cracks 
indicates the relative fatness of the fish. By making the break or crack nearer to 
the backbone than where it would ordinarily occur and where the flesh is considerably 
thicker, the fish is given the appearance of being much fatter than it really is, At 
first these cracks were made by using the thumb nail, and later by the back of the 
l^oint of the splitting knife, the cut by degrees being made higher than it naturally 
belonged. The use of the knife led gradually to the introduction of the plow or 
reamer, of which there are many styles, some made wholly of wood, others with the end 
tipped with pewter and with fine teeth on the edge, so as to make the crease rough, 
as though it were broken naturally. A popular form consists of a small cutting 
blade about inches in length, cut square forward and tapering to a point at the heel, 
attached to a curved iron shank, to which a wooden handle is fixed. 
In salting, the mackerel are emptied from the wash barrels upon the deck and 
rinsed by throwing buckets of water over them. A man places them, a few at a time, 
on a gib tub containing a half bushel or more of No. 2 Liverpool salt, w^hile another 
man, taking a fish in each hand, rubs the flesh side of the fish in the salt and, 
with the back of one fish against the flesh of the other, places them in the sea barrel 
wdth the fiesh side down, except that the two or three bottom layers or tiers have 
the flesh side up. Formerly it was customary to place all the fish with flesh side up, 
but this has been abandoned. The salt is carried in the hold in barrels that are sub- 
sequently used for packing the mackerel. Liverpool salt is used almost wholly, Cadiz 
and other coarse salts having a tendency to tear and give a ragged appearance to the 
mackerel. It is quite important that every portion of the surface of the fish be in 
contact with the salt, and care should be taken not to leave finger marks where the 
fingers or thumb cover portions of the fish during the process of salting and prevent 
the access of salt. 
Formerly on some vessels, especially those from Cape Cod, the mackerel were not 
rubbed in the salt, but were placed in the barrel with the flesh side up and the salt 
scattered over them. In salting the fish in that manner, Cadiz salt was used prin- 
cipally. The present method is much more rapid and leaves the fish in much neater 
condition, because the coarse salt pressing against the fish indents and lacerates it. 
By either process a barrel of mackerel may be salted in from 8 to 15 minutes, about a 
bushel of salt being used. After standing for a day or so and settling, the barrels are 
topped up by adding more struck fish to each barrel. When convenient, the barrels 
are headed and stowed in the hold or secured on deck until the vessel reaches port. 
On arrival at port the barrels of mackerel are removed and placed on the wharf 
or in a storehouse until opportunity arises for repacking them, which may not be for 
months. Then the top of the barrel is removed, the brine poured off and discarded, 
the fish emptied out, several barrels at a time, into a culling crib or box of planed 
boards with slat bottom and usually 5 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 8 to 10 inches deep, 
placed on legs about 3 feet high. The fish are there culled iuto the several grades 
recognized by the trade and thrown into two weighing tubs, each holding about 100 
F. C. B., 1898—28 
