498 
BULLETIN or THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
tLe tletcb, one at each end, by means of which it is removed from the cutting board. 
The other side of the fish is then treated likewise, making two fletches from each 
halibut. Formerly in fishing near Iceland, when all the fins were saved, the fletching 
knife was entered not so close to the fins, and when the fietches were removed the fins 
were cut ott‘. During the four or five years preceding 1898 few of the fins were saved 
on account of their large size and fatness. 
The whole fletches are at once salted in keuches in the vessel’s hold, in the same 
manner as codfish, with the skin side down and a layer of Trapani salt over each layer 
of fish, 8 or 9 bushels of salt being used to each 1,000 pounds of fish. The whole 
fletches are supposed to hold the pickle better than if they were cut in smaller pieces, 
and consequently weigh more. After remaining about 15 days they are rekenched, 
during which time the surplus salt is shaken off. To avoid compression some fisher- 
men place the fletches in large 400-pound boxes and pile the boxes on top of each 
other. On reaching port the fish are removed from the vessel’s hold and placed 
back down, with salt, in kenches 3 feet high in the fish-house, where they may remain 
for a year or more without further handling. It is not unusual for smokehouses at 
Gloucester to have half a million pounds or more of salted halibut on hand at one time. 
When it is necessary to hold them over during July and August, the appearance of 
the fish is improved if they are kept cool, and for that purpose one of the halibut 
smokers at Gloucester has a small ammonia refrigerating plant, with suitable cold 
chambers connected, where the temperature is kept about 45° or 50° F. 
The fresh halibut received at the smokehouses from the market vessels are cut in 
small fletches and salted in butts, back down, similar to those used for salting codfish, 
with about 5 bushels of Trapani salt scattered among 1,000 pounds of fish. There 
they remain from one to two weeks, when they are removed and salted in kenches 
similar to those on the vessels ; or they may be scrubbed, soaked, water-horsed, and 
smoked at once; but this is not usually done, because of the desirability of working 
off the old stock. It is important that the fletches be thoroughly salted, otherwise 
the smoked product will be liable to spoil quickly. 
When the market demand warrants their use, the fletches are removed from the 
kenches, washed thoroughly in fresh water with corn brooms or bristle brushes, and 
soaked in water for 3 or 4 hours. The water is then changed and they are again 
soaked for about the same length of time. This soaking is necessary in order to 
remove the coating of salt from the fish, and to soften its fiber so that the smoke may 
penetrate the flesh. On completion of the soaking they are water-horsed, skin side 
up, for 5 or 6 hours with weights on top. They are next placed on flakes similar to 
those used in curing codfish, where they are exposed to the sun’s action for about 24 
hours, which may extend through several days, the fish being placed in small jiiles 
and covered with flake boxes during the night or rainy weather. After drying the 
fletches are cut in small i.)ieces, from 2 to 6 pieces to the fietch, with a gash in each 
piece where the flesh is thin and the skin appears tough. 
The fietches are then strung on smooth, round, hard-wood sticks about 2 feet long 
and f inch in diameter, or, as at Boston, small iron or steel rods 3^- feet long, the sticks 
passing through the splits or gashes cut in the fietches, and from 5 to 7 j)ieces to each 
stick 2 feet in length, and 8 to 12 pieces to those 3.^ feet long, each piece being 2 or 3 
inches from the adjacent ones to permit the smoke to pass freely among them. The 
sticks witli the fietches attached are then passed into the smokehouse. 
The iirincipal smokehouse at Gloucester consists of a series of 10 compartments 
