PEiESERVATION OP FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
517 
cooking tlieni and causing the shells to open freely. The track on which the cars 
run is laid from the wharf to and into the steam box, and thence to the shucking room. 
The details of the present process of steaming and canning follow, this description 
applying especially to the business at Baltimore. 
The oysters when taken from the vessels are placed in cars of iron framework, 6 
or 8 feet long, with capacity for about t:0 bushels. These cars are run on a light iron 
track, which is laid from the wharf through a steam-tight chest or box, to the shucking 
shed. This steam chest is a rectangular oak box, 15 to 20 feet long, lined with sheet 
iron, htted with appliances for turning on steam to any desired pressure, and with a 
door at either end which shuts closely and is so packed with felt or some other material 
as to make the joint between the door and box as nearly steamtight as x»racticable. 
When a car is filled with oysters in the shell it is run into the steam chest and there left 
for 15 minutes, with the doors closed and steam admitted. The chest is then o^iened and 
the car run into the shucking room, its xdace in the chest being immediately occupied by 
another car. By having a sufficient number of cars the laborers may be constantly 
enpiloyed, loading and unloading in succession as they are steamed and emx)tied. 
In the shucking sheds the cars are surrounded by the shuckers, sometimes to the 
number of several hundred, each provided with a knife and a can arranged so as to 
hook to the upper bar of the iron framework of the car. The steaming causes the 
oyster shells to open more or less widely, and the meat is readily removed. 
The opened oysters are then washed thoroughly in cold water and transferred to 
the “ fillers’ table,” and the cans, when filled, after being weighed individually, are 
taken to the soldering table and there “capped”; that is, hermetically sealed. From 
the “capxiers” they are jilaced in a cylindrical crate or basket and lowered into a large 
cylindrical kettle, called the “process kettle” or “retort,” which is partly filled with 
water, where they are again steamed to such a degree as to destroy all germs of fermen- 
tation. After this they are placed, crate and all, in a vat of cold water, this serving 
the double jmrpose of arresting the operation of cooking by cooling them and of testing 
for leaks. When sufficiently cool to be handled the cans are transferred to another 
department, labeled, and jiacked in boxes for shipment. 
The shuckers usually work in gangs of 6 or 8 persons, comxirising sometimes whole 
families of men, women, and children. Those in Baltimore number about 4,000, rang- 
ing in ages from 12 to CO years, and are mostly women and children, the work being- 
light and peculiarly adapted to them. They are mainly of foreign jiarentage. Few 
scenes are more interesting than those observed on a visit to the shucking room of 
any one of the large canning houses. At one end the cars of steaming hot oysters 
are received, and as these are arranged in long rows covering the length of the room 
the shuckers, numbering 600 or more in some establishments, surround the cars and 
with rapidly working knives liastily and skillfully remove the yet steaming oysters. 
These eiuxdoyces are extremely industrious, and hundreds of small dwelling houses 
have been imrchased in Baltimore with money obtained by the Avomen and children 
at work in the oyster houses. The shucking is done in a cup known legally as the 
“oyster- gallon cup,” Avhich holds 9 pints, wine measure. The shuckers are paid at 
the rate of 6 cents per “cup,” averaging about 65 cents x>er day, the total wages 
paid those in Baltimore amounting to about -180,000 annually. 
About 800 other persons are engaged in the Baltimore canneries, of whom about 
three fifths are men. These enixiloyees are paid from $5 to -t25 xier Aveek, their total 
