PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
521 
of salt is then sprinkled over the lisli and the top is soldered on. A puncture about 
oue third inch in diameter is then made at the side of the can, through which tlie 
can is completely filled with salt brine. A tin button is soldered over this puncture 
and the can is cleaned and labeled for market. A barrel of mackerel will ‘Oness” about 
180 pounds, which will till 3 cases each containing 1 dozen 5-pound cans. This work 
is usually done at the salting houses, the necessary cans being purchased of the 
can-makers, and a soklerer is employed by the hour. 
In addition to the 5-pound cans, 3-pound, 4-pound, and 10-pound cans have been 
used. The 5 pound cans are of two shapes, each of which is about 3.]- inches deep; the 
first is round and 9 inches in diameter, the second is oval and Ci inches wide and 9.]- 
inclies long. The scarcity of mackerel during the jiast few years has resulted in very 
few being put up in this way. When mackerel were abundant, as 12 or 15 years ago, 
a single Arm used to ship 1,500 to 2,500 cases of canned salt mackerel each week, but 
jirobably not more than 1,200 cases were prepared in 1898. 
CANNING LOBSTERS. 
On the American continent lobsters were first canned in 1842, at Eastport, Me., 
by Messrs. Treat, Noble & Holliday. As is frequently the case in the establishment 
of new industries, the capital was limited, the ai)pliances were crude, and the cpiality 
of the product could not always be depended upon. In 1843 the Arm secured the 
services of Mr. Charles IMitchell, wiio had engaged in canning during the preceding 
year at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and who had ten years’ experience in the same business 
in Scotland. Mr. Mitchell improved the processes according to methods employed in 
his native country, and no further difficulty Avas ex]»erienced in preparing a desirable 
grade of goods. -Letters patent were applied for, but the matter was not pressed and 
the claim Avas not granted. During the few years following the origin of the business 
the 1-pound cans of lobsters sold at 5 cents each, and 3.4 i)ounds, live Aveight, Avere 
required to make a 1-pound can. No lobsters under 2 j)ouuds in weight were used. 
In 1880 there were 23 lobster canneries on the United States coast, and the 
output amounted to 2,049,800 cans, Avorth 1238,000; in 1889 it was 1,170,561 cans, 
worth $142,613, and in 1892 it ecpialed 1,235,160 cans, valued at $195,941. Since that 
year the output has been very small, the product during 1897 and 1898 on the whole 
of the United States coast not exceeding 20,000 cans annually. While tliere appears 
to be no accurate data as to the output of canned lobsters prior to 1880, yet it is well 
known to have been of much greater extent than at present. 
Prior to 1870 the industry was confined almost exclusively to the United States, 
l)ut the groAving scarcity and the increased price of lobsters on the Maine coast 
soon resulted in the establishment of numerous canneries in the British Provinces by 
New England capitalists. The number of these canneries has greatly increased, and 
they now furnish nearly the whole supply of this product. The quantity of canned 
lobsters produced in the Dominion of Canada during the year 1892 amounted to 
12,524,498 1 pound cans, valued at $1,758,425, and in Newfoundlaml 1,258,368 cans, 
valued at $176,083, making, Avith the 1,235,160 cans produced in the United States, an 
aggregate of 15,017,966 l-])Ound cans, worth $2,130,449. Erom 1870 to 1893, inclusive, 
the total product of canned lobsters in the Dominion of Canada Avas 2.54,106,936 
1-pound cans, with a total value approximating $38,116,000. 
