The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-10-09
p The sARDTlTE rTsEEPv7

coast of France. There are indications.
however, that these toothsome little fish
are either becoming scarce OF less easily
caught than of aforetime for the yield
grows less every year, both in the ag-
gregate quantity obtained and the aver
age catch per boat. The fishery is pro-
secuted from April till October. and
furnishes employment to some 10000
sailors, with their $3.50 boats on the
water, and some 900 men, women
and children on land, in preparing the
fish for market. Every year shows a
sdiminution ia the catch and an ADVANCE
IN the price This is shown by table.
recently published by the American
Grocer, which gives the figures of the
sardine fishery for the past thirty years.
and exhibits the annual decline In ouan-
tity caught and the corresponding ad-
vance in market price Whereas. from
1910 to ls49 the average catch per boat
was 335, 800 fish, and. their price about
81 Per 1000; the catch last year aver
aged only $1,000 fsA per boat, and the
price has mounted up to IS. so per ], 900
hsh. 1t is, therefore, quite probably
that, qpless some eiiange soon comes.
-saEdines will take their place among
Z ePicurean7 raritiss, and viii comnan.
that peculiar respect which, while SO
numereqsiy and cheaply procured, they
Z have failed to compel ~ 1batHi
The preparation of sardines for mar
ket is quite an interesting performance.
and is mostly done by women and chill
.dreif who leave country homes to spend
the "sardine season" on the coast
= Phese, do all the handling Of the fish
from the time they leave the boats
until they ARE ready to be finally sol
dered up in their boxes. They work
ten hours day as rule, and NAV do
as much overwOrk as they choose. at
frem three TO four and half cents an
hour. They usually make sixteen hours
days work, and as they are free to eat
as many sardines as they want. al
though expected to. "find themselves.
in. all other respects, they generally
manage to make enough during the sar-
dine season to keep their families
through the winter. They sleep in an
outhouse of the shanty description. and
supply their own beds and do all their
own housekeeping.
The condition precedent "irst catch
Your fish. having been complied with
the sardines are taken to the workshop
where they are at once sailed, which is
done by throwing into each basket
few handfuls of rock salt and sbalino,
the baskets so that the salt shall reach
every fish. Then they are spread ont
upon tables covered with zinc and left
there three or four hours, to allow all
liquid to drain of. Next they are de-
capitated and deprived of their insi5es
by means of sharp knives. which are
made to operate with wonderful dexter-
ity in the hands of these female ca
infantile experts. Washing with sea
water is the next process, after which
the fish are placed, tails up. in a wire
basket, OF 200 sardines capacity. which
Is hung up in the open air for several
hours until It's contents are dried. Fry
ing comes next in order, and this Is
done, not in their own fat, of which the
hsh nave no slPerabundance,l but IN the
pest KIND OF olive oil, in pans each inst
large enough to hold one of the wire
baskets. Here they simmer in the 1oiI
ing OIL from five to ten minutes until
by testing they are found to be cooked
Inns testing consists in taking ont n
Iish and breaking it in two, when. if II
Is white and the backbone ouiol,lv do
taches itself, the. fish is Considered
cooked and the basket is taken from n .
pan.
After cooking. the baskets of fish are
taken away and hung just owe a zinc
table, for three or four hours. where
they drip until perfectly dry. and are
then placed before the women who dc
the packing. This is the only bandlips
they get after. being stood up to dry as
previously described. They are nov
taken out of the baskets. one bv one
and laid IN the boxes. literally sardin,
fashion, and are overfowed with nure
fresh olive OH AS the fish absorb
portion of the Oh there is no stintino q
the deluge they 7receive. The boxe
then pass to the hands of the solderer
who operates with an iron kept hot b,
gas-burner Gin its midst" connected
seyfq rubber tube with the gas pipes
and having before him table so ar
ranged as to revolve and save time i,
manipulating the boxes. The process
OF soldering is swift and systematic.
single revolution of the iron completin,
the job A final touch is the depositinI
OF the boxes, 500 TO ], 600 at once. in
vat, where they are made to boil te
OR fifteen minutes. After this they ar
put away for a day or two in a room. i
order to see if any fermentation is like
~ to- take place. and then tliev ar
taken to a room, knee-deep with saw
dust whore swarm Of girls are read
to,rub them with the dnst, until ali tn
Oh is wiped off and the boxes are a
bright as can be. Thence they 90 I
the packing-room and thereafter to th
place appointed for all good sardines. =
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