PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
457 
to take out all the blood, which has a great tendency to putrefaction. This seems to l>o a much better 
method than that of washing the lish in its own blood, as is used in the North, probably for the purpose 
of making the llesh redder. When the lish has dripped they put it into largo tubs, with French or 
Spanish salt over it and under it. It is supposed that Spanish salt gives it a more reddish color than 
French salt, but that French salt gives it a less shar2> taste. Some leave the fish in salt for eight or 
ten days and then barrel them. Others jHit them without salt into large tubs, lillod with strong l)riue. 
and leave them there for a month or six weeks and sometimes long(>r, waiting mitil there may bo a call 
for them, for it is thought that salmon keeps better in those largo vessels than in barrels, but care 
must be taken to have it constantly covered with brine. Lastly, it is to be taken out of the tubs and 
barreled. In the bottom of the barrel they ^mt four or live small s.almon and then lay on the large, 
good salmon, pressing them together as much as jiossible and jnitting a little salt between them. In 
the toji of the barrel, likewise, they i)ut some small salmon. When the barrel is full they jionr in a 
small fpiantity of strong brine and immediately close it up, for it is necessary to guard the lish against 
the contact of the air and to jirevent the brine from being lost. Without these jirecantions the salmon 
would grow yellow and rusty and would contract a bad smell. Large salmon is more liable to these 
inconveniences than the smaller sort, and, therefore, reijnires more salt in the barreling of it. It is 
more difficult to preserve salmon than cod. The Scotch take care not to mix salmon of different sorts 
and qualities in the same barrels, and not to exiiort such as are bad. There is a bounty on every 
barrel exiiorted, and there are iusiiectors in every jiort of Scotland whose business it is to inquire into 
and certify the good quality, species, etc., of the fish. When the barrels arrive at their place of 
destination, they ought to be filled again with fresh brine. 
BRINE-SALTED MULLET. 
Mullet is tbe most important fish brine-salted in tlie Southern States, more of 
this species being itickled than all others combined, the product being especially large 
on the coasts of North Carolina and Florida, where about 0,000 barrels are prepared 
annually between the middle of August and the end of November, 
As soon as removed from the seines and carried ashore the mullet are dressed. 
This consists in splitting them down the back and underneath the backbone from tlie 
head to the tail, so that the fish will lay out flat, and removing the viscera, stomach 
membrane, and gills. On the coast of Florida, where the mullet are very large, the 
heads are removed, and sometimes the backbones, but this is not the case on the Caro- 
lina coasts. A horizontal gash is sometimes cut in the thick portion of the flesh on 
the side in which the backbone is left, in order that the brine may easily penetrate it. 
The flsh are next immersed in tubs or barrels of clean salt water and soaked for about 
half au hour and the blood and slime washed off. They are removed one at a time 
and salted with the hand, the salt being rubbed both inside and outside. Then they 
are usually placed, flesh side up, in old boxes or barrels of any description that are 
clean, with salt sprinkled over each layer of flsh. Generally this work is done by the 
fishermen and their assistants, and on the North Carolina coast they take them to 
market in two or three days and sell them to the packers, who are usually wholesale 
grocers or dealers in fresh and salt fish, by whom the mullet are at once repacked. 
Ill other localities, and especially on the west Florida coast, the repacking is generally 
done by the fishermen. 
In repacking the mullet nre removed from the first package and placed in layers, 
with the face or inside of the fish up, in new white pine barrels, 100 pounds being 
put in each iiackage. In order to iierinit the brine to easily permeate the contents 
of the barrel, the fish of one layer are sometimes placed at right angles to those in 
the layer below. Strong brine of not less than 05° test, or, as usually determined by 
the fishermen, strong enough to float a mullet, is then poured in until the barrel is 
