Richland beacon., 1877-04-21
PREPARING COD FISH FOR Market.

After few expiring wriggles-anc it
is comfort to be informed by natural
lists that fish are almost insensible to pain
the cod is flung from the fisherman's
boat upon the rough stage, where it is re-
ceived by the "cut- throat" who, with a
sharp knife, lays open the fish across the
throat and down the belly, and passes it
to the header. This operator proceeds
to extract the liver, which is dropped
into vessel by his side, to be converted
into cOd.liver oil. He then extracts the
entrails and wrenches off the head, and
throws these into another receptacle, to
be preserved for the farmer, to mix with
bog and earth, thus forming most fer
tilizing compost for his fields. The
tongues, however, are taken out, and also
the sounds, and these, fresh or picked.
are an excellent article of food. The fish
is then passed to the splitter, who, by a
dexterous movement, cuts out the back
bone nearly to the tail, and thus lays the
fish entirely open, and capable of being
laid fiat on its back. This is the incest
part of the operation, and the splitter
always commands higher wages than the
rest of the operators. The salter next
takes the fish and washes it we'll from all
particles of blood, salts it and places
it in piles to drain. After laying the
proper length of time it is washed, and
spread to dry on the fake" which is
formed of spruce boughs, supported by
framework resting upon upright poles.
Here the cod are spread out individually
to bleach by exposure to sun and air,
and during this process require constant
attention. At night, or on the approach
of rain, they are made up into little
round heaps, with the skin outward, in
which state they look very much like
small haycocks. When the bloom"
or whitish appearance, which for a time
they assume, comes out on the dried fish, |
the process is finished, and then they are
quite ready for storing. On being con-
veyed to the premises of the exporting
merchant, they are first "culled," or
assorted, into four different kinds, known
as " Merchantable," Madeira" West
India" and "Dun," or broken fish.
The first is the best quality, the second
grade lower, the third is intended for
the stomachs of the negroes, and the
fourth, which is incapable of keeping, is
used at home. The cod sent to hot
countries are packed by screw power into
small casks called drums :" those which
go to the Mediterranean are usually ex-
ported in bulk. Large quantities of
dried cod fish are shipped to Brazil, and
there is hardly an inhabited corner of
that vast empire where the Newfound-
land cod is not to be found, being carried
on the backs of mules from the seacoast
into the most distant provinces of the
interior. The negroes of the West Indias
welcome it as grateful addition to their
vegetable diet. To all parts of the
it finds it way, Italians,
Greeks and Sicillians equally relishing
the produce Of the sea harvest. The
Spaniards and Portuguese are our best
customers, and all over the sunny PENN.
sula the "bucalo" is standing dish.
In the warmer regions of the earth the
people seem to have special liking for
thu dried and sailed cod, and to them it
is an almost indispensable article of food.
Montreal Gazette.
"A lady in Springfield had been talk
ing with her little girl about death in