PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
501 
inches square at the end and 4 feet long, 3 fish being usually hung from each. The 
sticks with the fish attached are placed on frames for a few hours to allow the moisture 
to dry from the fish, when they are suspended in the smokehouse, which is generally 
like those used in smoking herring, the sticks being placed in tiers, one above another, 
with space between to allow the smoke to circulate. A fire of hard wood, usually 
oak, is started over the floor of the smoking kiln and allowed to burn from 8 to 18 
hours, when sawdust is applied, smoldering the fire and producing a dense smoke, 
which thoroughly impregnates the fish. In smokehouses with a low ceiling the smok- 
ing can be completed in 4 or 5 hours. In some smokehouses no wood is used, the 
curing being effected by burning hard-wood sawdust, rock maple or beech being 
preferred, and the temperature is kept as high as practicable without burning tfle 
fish, which are jAaced high up in the bays. The time of cooking or smoking depends 
on the condition of the fish, temiierature of the air, and the probable time to elaj^se 
before consumption, but never exceeds one night. 
When the smoking is comiileted the fish are removed from the smokehouse and 
placed on racks for cooling, and when thoroughly cooled they are packed in boxes 
containing from 20 to 400 pounds each, but mostly 50-pound boxes, and shipped to the 
trade, usually by express. Only enough are cured at a time to supifly the immediate 
demand, as it is important that they reach the retail dealers in good condition. During 
warm weather they will keep only a few days, but when the weather is cool they will, 
under ordinary conditions, keep from 10 days to 2 or even 3 weeks. If it is desirable 
to keep them longer they must be smoked much harder. 
The season for Finnan haddie begins in October and lasts until the following April. 
100 pounds of round fish yield about 55 pounds smoked, and the wholesale ])rice ranges 
from 3^ to 6 cents x>ei‘ pound. The choicest haddie are tender. The inside is of a 
light yellowish-brown or straw-color. It is alleged that some curers add saffron to 
the pickling brine to improve the color of the fish. 
SMOKED STURGEON. 
Practically all of the sturgeon flesh used in this country is smoked before going to 
the consnmers. This is usually done in the large centers of German population, and 
principally in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Sandusky, Buffalo, and Philadelphia. 
The business was started in 1857 by Mr. B. K. Peebles in New York City, and reached 
its greatest height about 1890, the scarcity of sturgeon during recent years restricting 
the extent. In New York alone about 1,000,000 jjounds are smoked annually, consti- 
tuting over one-half of the fish smoked in that city. Along the Great Lakes the 
smoking of sturgeon began about 1865, these fish not being used there prior to that 
time. As first prepared at Sandusky and Toledo they were dressed, salted, and 
smoked in large strips for 8 or 10 days and sold as smoked lialibut. But the smokers 
soon adopted methods similar to those in New York, and the business increased and 
was of considerable extent ten or fifteen years ago. In 1872 Mr. J. W. Milner reported 
to the U. S. Fish Commission that 13,800 sturgeon, averaging 50 pounds each in 
weight, were smoke-cured at Sandusky, and in 1880 it was found that the business had 
increased to 1,258,100 pounds; but the decreasing abundance of sturgeon on the lakes 
has resulted in a falling-off in the quantity smoked. The total annual product in the 
United States is now about 4,000,000 pounds, worth $720,000. 
Sturgeon for smoking are received from the Delaware Eiver and other estuaries of 
the Atlantic coast, from the Great Lakes, and from the Columbia Eiver. The lake 
