PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
539 
that it may be turned or rotated from time to time, so that the juice that settles to the 
bottom is brought to the top and compelled to flow through the mass again, thus 
retaining it in the flesh. On completion of the smoking the disks of fish are removed 
from the drum and placed in cans with a small quantity of cotton seed oil, and the 
cans are hermetically sealed. On account of the scarcity and the consequent high 
price of sturgeon during recent years, comparatively small quantities are canned. The 
product is very palatable and will keep for a year or two under favorable conditions. 
HALIBUT. 
The generally brisk demand for fresh and smoked halibut has prevented many 
attempts in New England to preserve them by canning. On the Pacific coast, both 
in Alaska and in the State of Washington, and at Klawak, Prince of Wales Island, 
fresh halibut have been canned, but in no great quantities. There is no doubt but 
that the fish is suitable to be thus preserved. 
SPANISH MACKEREL. 
In 1879 the owner of an oyster and clam cannery at Ocracoke Inlet, North Car- 
olina, purchased small quantities of Spanish mackerel and put up a few hundred 
2-pound cans. Shortly afterwards, at the suggestion of Professor Eaird, exiieriments 
were made in canning Spanish mackerel at Cherrystone, Va., to ascertain their relative 
value as compared with other kinds of canned fish. The reports of the canneries weie 
that they are no better than fish of ordinary grades, and that as a canned fish they 
are inferior to the common mackerel {Scomber scpmhrus).* 
GREEN TURTLE. 
The canning of green turtle {Chelonia mydas) in this country was first begun in 
1869 on the coast of Texas at the beef packeries located on Aransas Bay. When 
these canneries were closed, about 10 years afterwards, a small factory was estab- 
lished at Fulton, on the same bay, for iireparing turtle meat in tin cans for market. 
This cannery was in operation up to 1896, using annually about 1,000 turtles, weighing 
250,000 pounds, and preparing about 40,000 two-iiound cans of turtle meat and 800 two 
and three-pound cans of “turtle soup.” On account of the increasing scarcity of 
green turtle on the Texas coast, the cannery has not been in o])eration since 1896, 
Small quantities of green turtle meat are incidentally canned at times at various 
other places. Each cannery uses methods peculiar to itself, so that it is scarcely 
practicable to describe any general method of preparing this iiroduct. To prepare 
it so that it will keep a suitable length of time, re(inires close attention and the 
greatest cleanliness. 
GIANT SCALLOPS. 
The Bulletin of the CJ, S. Pish Commission for 1889 contains the following account 
of experiments in canning the giant scallop {Pecten mayellanicus) : 
About 1876 the Castiiie Packing Company undertook to put scallops on the market in a canned 
condition, as is now so commonly done with clams in many localities on the coast of Maine. It is said 
that the company was unable to properly preserve the thick, solid meats, and the effort was abortive. 
Six years ago, however, the attempt was renewed and was in a measure successful. It was found 
that by previously frying the meats they could be canned without difficulty, but the method was 
considered too costly and was not put to much practical use.t 
* Report U. S. Fish Commission, 1880, p. 414; 1881, pji. 221-227. 
t Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission for 1889, p. 320. 
