PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
347 
tcmperatnre of tlie water through which the cars are towed must l)e takeu iuto coiisideratiou, and 
the collection not bo j'ostponed until too late in the .season. If the collection is prolonged, this 
difficulty is obviated by using ice, as it has been found that by moderating the volume of water 
passing through the car and introducing it all through the ice compartment it is possible to keep 
a uniform temperature in the comj)artmeut in which the fish are held several degrees below that of the 
water in the river, thereby insuring the safe transfer of the salmon. (Report U. S. Commissioner of 
Fish and Fisheries for 1897, pp. 32-33.) 
The live-cars used by the lobster dealers ou the New England coast are usually 
substantially constructed, of large size, and divided into compartments. Those at 
Portland, Me., are mostly 30 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 3 feet deep, with capaeity for 
2,000 to 3,000 lobsters. The framework consists of six rectangular frames, G feet apart, 
to whicb are nailed boards G inches wide and 1 inch thick, forming the top, bottom, sides, 
and ends, with spaces of 1 to 2 inches between the adjacent boards. The cars are 
thus divided into five transverse compartments, each of which is provided with two 
large doors entering from the top, one door on each side of the middle line of the car. 
The cost of each approximates $G0, and they last four or live years. At Portland 
there are about sixty of these cars, providing storage capacity for 150,000 live lobsters, 
which may be retained for three or four weeks under favorable conditions. 
The usual size of the lobster cars employed at Boston is 28 feet long, 14 feet wide, 
and 5 feet deep, divided into four compartments, eaeh of which holds from 500 to 800 
lobsters, according to the season. The compartments are separated from each other 
by vertical lathes, and each has two doors opening from the top. Some dealers 
omit two or three of the middle lathes in each partition between the compartments, 
so that when the doors in the two middle ones are opened the light causes the active 
and more healthy lobsters to scurry into the end compartments, where, huddled 
closely together, they are more easily removed with a dip net. The weaker lobsters, 
being less active, remain behind, and, thus separated from the stronger ones, may 
be removed as desired. During the first year after its construction the buoyancy of its 
material keeps the car afloat with the top slightly above the surface. But as it 
becomes water-soaked it is necessary to buoy it, which is accomplished by placing an 
empty water-tight barrel within the car at each corner. Small marine ways are 
usually built adjacent to the cars for convenience in raising them above the surface of 
the water. The cars cost $90 each. They last about five years only, their period of 
usefulness being shortened by the destructiveness of the teredo. There are G5 of 
them in Boston, with an aggregate carrying capacity of about 170,000 lobsters. 
At Friendship and Tremont, in Maine, lobsters are retained in cars constructed 
on a plan invented and patented by J. E. Burns, of Friendship, and differing from the 
usual type in being divided horizontally into separate compartments, each about a 
foot in height, thus preventing the lobsters from crowding and killing each other by 
their own weight. Each compartment is provided with convenient openings at the 
sides, so that lobsters and food can be introdueed as desired. The cars are about 35 
feet long, 18 feet wide, and G feet deep, with capacity for 5,000 lobsters each. 
In New York the market floats already described as being employed in connection 
with the live-fish trade are also used for retaining lobsters. The aggregate storage 
capacity of the floats at New York probably does not exceed 25,000 lobsters. 
The cars used by the lobster fishermen of the New England coast are generally 
much smaller and more rudely constructed than those of the dealers. It is desirable 
to have them small, because of the convenience in removing the lobsters by hoisting 
