PRESERVATION OP FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
459 
to obtain tlieir winter supply of fish, bringing their produets to exchange, such as 
maple sugar and salt, or cider and whisky; and sometimes the fishermen sold to 
traders, who carted the fish inland, exchanging them for what they could get. 
Shad are yet salted to some extent on Kennebec River, in Casco Bay, on Delaware 
River, the tributaries of the Chesapeake, and in the Carolinas. The bulk of those on 
the Boston market come from Canada, while of the domestic product the coast and 
rivers of Maine and the Chesapeake region furnish the greater number. Those salted 
in the Southern States are usually eaten in the homes of the fishermen or in the imme- 
diate neighborhood. There is no uniform method of preparation, the dressing of the 
fish, the salting, and the packing varying according to the experience or fancies of 
the difterent curers; but the following are the most general processes when the fish 
are to be placed on the market. 
KENNEBEC RIVER PROCESS. 
The shad are first beheaded and split along the belly, eviscerated, and about 0 
inches of the upper portion of the backbone removed. They are next washed thor- 
oughly, some curers washing them in two waters, allowing them to soak five or six 
hours in the second washing. After the soaking the end of the tail is sometimes cut 
off. The shad are then ready for salting. In this operation a layer of salt is placed 
in the bottom of a barrel or butt, and this is followed by successive layers of fish and 
salt, the former with the backs down, about a bushel of salt to each 200 iiounds of 
split fish. It is desirable to rub the salt over the face or flesh side of the shad before 
placing in the barrel. In a few days the fish in the top layer are turned backs up and 
a weight is put on them to keep them beneath the pickle, and a small quantity of 
salt placed over all to strengthen the weak pickle floating at the top. The shad may 
remain in the pickle a month or more, but usually two weeks or even less is sufticient 
time for the curing. On removal they are rinsed off in the pickle, culled if the quan- 
tity warrants, weighed in lots of 200 pounds each, and packed backs down in tight 
barrels, with salt scattered at the bottom of the barrel and over each layer of fish, 
about half a bushel of salt being used for each barrel. 
Liverpool salt is used almost exclusively, for striking or curing and for repacking. 
Trapani salt is objectionable, as its coarse grains lacerate the smooth surfaee of the 
shad. After 200 pounds of fish have been ])laced in the barrel, the latter is filled 
with strained pickle from the curing or first packing and the head is put on, when 
the barrel is ready for branding and shipment; or, better still, after the barrel is 
headed and its contents have settled somewhat it is turned on its side and additional 
pickle added through the bung. When properly prepared, pickled shad should keep 
from 12 to 24 months. The shrinkage from dressing and salting is about 50 per cent, 
400 pounds of round shad being required to make a barrel of 200 pounds salted, the 
number of fish to the barrel ranging from 75 to 120. The price received is usually $8 
or $10 per barrel. 
THE CHESAPEAKE PROCESS. 
On the tributaries of Chesapeake Bay the roe shad are rarely salted, on account 
of the demand for them in the fresh-fish markets, and as a rule it is oidy during a glut 
in those markets that the bucks or males are salted. In preparing the fish the heads 
and tails are cut off and the fish cut down the back to the tail and thrown in tubs or 
