The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-10-16
CREASED MINNOWa.
How Sardfnes are Prepared for
ssse Market.

From the New York Mail.
The sardine fishery, with all It's atten-
dant industrial activities. is one of the
most important business features of tn
coast Of France. The fishery is prosecu-
ted from April till October, and furnishes
employment TO some 20, 900 sailors, with
their 3 $40 boats on the water, and some
1000 men, women and children on
| land, in preparing the fish tor market.
| Every year shows diminution in the
catch and an advance ia the price. The
preparation Of sardines for market is quite
an interesting performance, aad is most
~ done By woman and children who
leave country homes to spend the fsar-
| dine season" on the coast. These do all
the handling Of the fish from the time
they leave the boats until they are ready
to be finally soldered up in their boxes.
! They work ten hours day, as q rule,
and may do as much overwork as they
1 choose, at from three to four aud q half
cents an hour They usually make six
teen hours a days work, and as they are
free to eat az many sardines as they want
(although expected to find themselves"
in all other respects,) they generally
manage to make enough during the sar-
AiHG SCd-On W ACCp LuGIT ldIfi1iGS luTOuRu
the winter. They sleep in an clubhouse
Of the shanty description, and supply
their own beds and do all their own
housekeeping.
The con lition precedent-"frst to
catch your ish"-having been complied
WITH, the sardines are taken to the work
shop, where they are at once sailed which
IS done by throwing into each basket Il
few handsful of rock salt and shaking
the basket so that the salt shall reach
every fish. Then they are spread out
upon tables covered with zinc and lett I
there three or four hours, to allow al Hi I
quld to drain off Next they are deca pitated |
and deprived of their insides by means of |
sharp knives which are made to operate I
with wonderful dexterity in the hands OF +
these females and intantile experts. |
Washing with sea- water is the next pro-
cess, after which the fish are placed tails
up in wire basket of 200 sardines ca
pacity, which is hung up in the open air
tor several hours until its contents are
dried. Frying comes next in order, and
this is done, not in their own fat, of which
the fish has no superabundance, but in
the best kind of olive oil, in pans each just
large enough to hold one of the wire bask-
cts. Here they simmer in the boiling oil
from live TO ten minutes, until testing
they are found to be cooked. This test
ing consists of taking out a fish and
breaking it in two, when, if it is white
and the backbone detaches itself, the +,
fish is considered cooked and the basket
is taken from the pan.
After cooking, the basket Of fish are
taken away and hung just over a zinc
table for three or four hours, where they
drip until perfectly dry, and are then
placed before the women who do the \
the packing. This is the only handling i
they get after being stood up to dry as 6
described. They are now taken
Dut of the baskets one by one, and laid
IN the boxes literally sardine- fashion, and t
are overlooked with pure, fresh olive oil. Z
AS the fish absorb portion of the oil, !
there is no stinting of the deluge they re- :
eeive The boxes then pass TO the hands /
Of the solderer, who operates with an !
ron kept hot by 4 gas burner lin its :
midst" connected by rubber tube with :
gas-pipes, and having before him a table
30 arranged as to revolye and save time :
N manipulating the boxes. The process
IF soldering is quick and systematic, a
single revolution of the iron completing :,
he job. A final touch is the depositing :
If the boxes, 800 or | 900 at once in a
rat, where they are made to boil ten or
fifteen minutes After this they are put
lway for day in a room, in order to see
f any lamentations is likely to take f
place, and then they are taken to room n
lnee-deep with saw-dust, where swarm
# girls are ready to rub them with saw c
lust until all the oil is wiped off and the 0
boxes are as bright as can be. Thence h
hey go to the packing-room, and there o
lfter to the place appointed for all good l
ardines. Y