The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-26
Yankee Sardines,

Nine-tenthS of the sardines consumed
in the United States come from Maine
Very few of the real French fish are
imported now. These Yankee sardines
are nothing but small herring put up in
boxes with gaudy labels and French in
scriptions. In Eastport there are nine
teen places where they turn out sar-
dimes, beside three at Lubcc, two at
Jonesport, and one each at MillDridge.
Lamoine and Robbinston. In 1876 a
New York firm did lucrative business
packing Russian sardines" in East
port. These were little herring packed
in small wooden kegs and preserved
with spices of different kinds. 1t oc-
Cured to one member of the firm that
these little fish might be utilized to
better advantage by cooking them and
| packing them in olive oil, like the
French sardines. The experiment had
been tried several years before without
success. The difficulty was to eradicate
the taste of the herring. This gave
rise to the couplet:
You may spice and may call it sardine if you
will,
But the taste of the herring will cling to it
still.
1t was easy to cook the herring, pack
them in olive oil in tin cans, and seal
them air tight, but when they were
opened they had not the rich, spicy
flavor of the regular French sardines.
After great many experiments, one
of the manufacturers succeeded in pro-
| ducing mixture of oils and spices
| which removed the difficulty.
= ff0.a mead for m Ii
are about four inches long, and are
takenin great quantities along the Maine
and New Brunswick coast. They can
be bought of the fishermen for about So
hgshead. although when the fish are
scalce, as they often are in the spring
they bring as much as S15 hogshead.
To catch the fish small trees or brush
are thrust into the sandy bottom of the
sea, arangedin a line running oui from
the shore some Is or 100 feet, and then
curved hack like horses shoe. Inside
this trap is net When the tide is
falling the net is raised and the fish
are taken out with huge scoop nets.
The catch is always very uncertain;
sometimes only a bushel or two will be
taken, and often so many are caught as
to endanger the net.
There is another way of capturing the
fish. Herring, like mackerel, 90 in
schools, and, for some reason, always
follow a light. Two or three fishermen
provide themselves with torches made
of cotton batting saturated with kero,
sene, and on dark nights row along
the shores with torch in the bow of
the boat. When school is found the
herring dart after the boat, coming Sc
close that they are dipped up in nets
attached to shortpoles.
After being captured the fish are
taken Immediately to the factory and
laid in heaps upon long tables. The
first thing is to decapitate and clean the
fish. The dexterity with which this OPP
GRAFTON is performed by the children
who are employed is remarkable. On
an average seventy-five fish are cleaned
and decapitated every minute by eacl
child. Both operations are performed
with one strokeof Il sharp knife. A
box holding about a bushel lies at the
feet of each operator, and as the clean
ing is completed the fish slides into thi:
box. Thepay for this work is ten cents
per box, and some of the children make
a dollar and a half day.
After being washed the herring are
picked for half an hour and are ther
laid upon trays and placed in a large
drying room heated by steam. Aftel
the fish are dry they are thrown into
large shallow pans of oil and thor
oughly cooked They are then packed
in tin boxes by girls and women, ant
in each box is poured quantity of the
patent mixture of oils and spices
Covers are then fitted to the boxes anC
sealed on by men. AS air must be eX
cluded, the cans, when sealed, arr
placed in tank of boiling water
where they remain half an hour, anC
are then removed and placed on al
inclined plane so that the al
inside rushes to one corner o
the box. This corner is punctured will
an awl, the hot air escapes and the Cal
is made air-tight by drop of solder. TIL,
boxes are then ornamented with attrac
tive French labels, stating that the en-
closed are SdrdiReS q l1 FrancdjSe;'
some are labeled so rhmttle d. Oljre. TIL,
oil used is cottonseed oil, such as is mad
in South Carolina. 1t is not always the
best quality of OIL The best oil is used
however, for the fish sold as ''prime.
There are prepared at these factorie
other varieties of fish known as 'mus
tards,n ''maranees, and ''sea trout
Tho mustards are prepared like tn
sardines until they are put in the cans
They are packed in preparation mad
of mustard, vinegar and oil, with soup
con of spice. The mustards are large
fish than the sardines. The maranee
are packed in sauce made of vinegar
spices, lemon and sugar, and the SCI
trout are large herring put up in ova
boxes with still another sauce.
Almost the entire product of thes
factories is shipped to New York
whence it is sold to retailers all through
the country. One of the Lubec house
I prepares about 1920 boxes day TIL,
actual cost per box, including expenses
is about FIVE cents. The profit made b.
the packers is from five to seven cents
The difference between these prices ant
what the consumer pays for the fish a
the grocery goes into the pockets of tn
groceryman. EaStport (Me.) Cor. N
y San.
james Bishop died recently nea
London, Eng, aged eighty-three, iron