PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
3G1 
No matter wliat kind of fisli are skipped, they skould be tboroiiglily ckilled before 
being placed in the skipping box or barrel, wkenever tke time will admit. It too 
frequently kappens tkat liskermen place tke fisk in skipping packages immediately 
after tkeir capture or after tkey kave lain in tke boat several kours exposed to tke 
keat of tke sun. Having to contend witk tke warmtk of tke fisk as well as tke atmos- 
pkeric keat, tke ice packed witk the fisk melts very rapidly, wkereas if tke fisk kad 
been ckilled before being packed tkey would carry for a muck longer time, and less 
ice would be necessary in tke skipping package, resulting in reduced transportation 
charges. Cooling tke fisk is generally best accomplisked by laying tkem tkinly on a 
clean fioor or platform in tke fisk-kouse and spreading finely ckiseled ice over tkem; 
but if the air is unusually warm tkey should be cooled in a suitably insulated ice-box. 
It is of prime importance tkat tke temperature of tke fisk be reduced as soon as 
])racticable after tkey are caught. Tke sooner tkey are placed witk tke ice after coming- 
out of tke water tke longer tke fisk will carry and tke better tkeir condition on reaching 
tke consumer. On tke death of tke fisk the tissues relax, and ofter a favorable lodgment 
for bacteria, wkereas tke application of ice as soon as tke fisk are removed from tke 
water hardens tke tissues and counteracts tke development of bacteria. 
Mr. E. Le Clair, of the Baltimore Packing and Cold Storage Company, of Minne- 
apolis, Minn., in writing on this subject, states: 
While at Lake of the Woods four years ago, during the month of .Tuly, wlien the weatlier was 
warm, the writer took two hoses in the boat; one of the hoses was filled with fish as soon as they 
were taken out of the nets, without ice; the other contained about the same quantity of the same 
kind of fish, which were immediately iced, while they were yet aliye, and a test Avas made as to the 
keeping qualities of the two. As soon as the boat reached the fish-house where the fisli were dressed, 
the un-iced fish were immediately iced after having the inwards and gills removed, and the fisli that 
had been iced in the box were also dressed and treated in the same way as the other iin-iced fisli Avere. 
The fish that were not iced when taken out of the nets became unfit for human food in six days, and the 
fish that had been promptly iced were kept in the shanty for two weeks and then shipped from Lake 
of the Woods here, a distance of 600 miles, in a refrigerator car, the boxes marked; and Avhen the fish 
arrived they were found to be in good condition, and we reshipped the same fish to Butte, Mont., and 
never had any complaint of them. The time that elapsed from the time that the fish were taken out 
of the water until they were iced in the fish-house was two hours and ten minutes, but the weather 
and water were warm. It therefore is evident that the greater care exercised at the originating point 
as to the proper icing of fish, the better will be the result. 
Tke quantity of ice used in skipping fisk depends on tke size of tke package and 
tke season of tke year. During tke summer montks, for a skipment covering one or 
two days, 50 pounds of ice is generally required to eack 100-pouud box of fisk, more in 
proportion being necessary for smaller packages and less for larger ones. Tkis ice 
skould be crusked quite fine, so as to completely surround tke fisk and yet not bruise 
tkem. It is generally better to “ chisel ” tke ice than to crush it, especially for itacking 
among tke layers of fisk, since crusked ice is generally somewhat coarse. “ Chiseling ” 
consists ill planing tke ice from a large block by means of a long-handled chisel, tke 
face or edge of which is formed by three or four thin, sharp teeth. 
Tke most usual forms of skipping packages on tke Atlantic coast are tke Hour 
barrel, witk 200 pounds capacity, and boxes holding 400 or 500 i)ounds of fisk. Tke 450- 
pound box, so popular in tke Boston Avkolesale trade, measures 42 inches long, 24 inches 
wide, and 18 inches deep, and tke 500-pound box is 48 inches long, 20 inches wide, 
and 18 inches deep. Auger-holes in tke bottom of tke barrels and the edge-cracks in 
tke boxes suffice for. drainage of tke water resulting from the melting ice. After 
