PKESEliVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR POOD. 
379 
used, as in most of the freezing- houses, the sharp freezer is usually a stall or biu, open 
in front and sometimes on the sides, tlie front and sides being built up with loose 
boards as the bin is tilled. 
The arrangement of the ice, salt, and tish-paiis in the bin is as follows: The ice, 
after being passed through a grinder, where it is crushed into small particles, is 
mixed with salt in the proportion of from 8 to 1(! pounds of salt to 100 pounds of ice. 
The mixing is conveniently done by scattering salt over each shovelful of ice as the 
ice is shoveled from the grinder to the handbarrow. Many varieties of salt are used, 
most houses preferring a coarse mined salt because of its cheapness. Others use 
liner salt because of its coming in close contact with the ice and resulting in a lower 
degree of cold and the more rapid freezing of the lish, although the salt does not last 
so long. 
The amount of ice and salt required in freezing a given quantity of fish depends 
principally on the fineness of the materials and the proportion in which they are used, 
and to a less extent on the insulation of the freezing-bin, the amount of moisture in the 
atmosphere, and the size of the pans and the manner in which the fish are placed 
therein. The finer the ice and salt the quicker the freezing and the exhaustion of 
their strength. A. larger proportion of salt also results in quicker freezing. The most 
economical quantities appear to be about 85 pounds of salt and 1,000 pounds of ice to 
each 1,000 pounds of fish, although some freezers use much more salt and less ice. 
Much larger quantities of ice and salt are required during warm weather, and also 
more is necessary when the atmosphere is moist than when it is dry. Some of the ice 
and salt generally remains unmelted and this may be used over again iu connection with 
fresh materials, additional salt being mixed with it, and as it is weaker than new ice it 
should be used mainly at or near the bottom of the pile, the top of the pile taking care 
of the bottom since the cold descends. 
In making the freezing pile an even layer of ice and salt, about 3 or 4 inches dee[), 
is placed at the bottom, on which is laid a tier or layer of pans filled ivith fish, about 
3 inches of ice space intervening between the pans and the sides of the bin. This is 
followed successively by a layer of ice and salt about 2 or 3 inches deep and a layer of 
pans, the surface of each layer of ice being made even and smooth by means of a 
straight edge. Sideboards are placed as the height of the pile requires, and a wide 
board laid on the pile furnishes a walk for the workmen in placing the freezing mixture 
and the iians. Some freezers place the pans in double tiers between the layers of 
ice and salt, and in this case the thickness of the layers of freezing material must be 
increased. In some freezers a light sprinkling of salt is thrown on top of the paiis 
before the freezing mixture is applied. The pile is built uii as high as it is con- 
venient for handling the pans of fish and the ice and salt, which usually does not 
exceed 6 feet. A double quantity of the freezing material is put on top, and the whole 
should be covered with wood or canvass to exclude the air. The freezing is usually 
completed iu about 15 or 18 hours, but the fish usually remain one day, when they are 
ready to be placed in cold storage. On one occasion, at a freezing house iu Cleveland, 
2,200 pans of herring, each pan containing about 19 pounds of fish, or a total of 41,800 
pounds, were filled and placed in the freezing-bin in 14 hours. Twenty-seven men were 
required, at a cost of 15 cents per hour each, making the total cost of labor $56.70, or 
nearly 14 cents per 100 pounds. 
In the sharp freezer the fish, being moist, are frozen solidly to each other and to 
the surfaces of the pans. To remove them from the pan the latter is usually passed 
