The term "American sardines" was first applied to a prepara tion of the smaller menhaden or whitefish, a fish mainly valued for its rich yield of oil and its merits as a fertilizer. By steaming its bones were softened, and, when packed in olive oil, it was offered as a substitute for the sardine. Those that were too large to pass under that name were called "shadines." Glowing ac counts of the new business appeared in the New York papers ; the goods received a medal of merit in 1873 in Vienna, and a silver one the next year at Bremen, and it is claimed that in a single year 30,000 dczen cans were packed and sold. But, for some reason, the popularity of menhaden sardines suddenly waned, and the business has now practically gone out of existence. About 2,000 cases of American sardines were put up by the Eagle Com pany during the first year at Eastport, Me., but they were dis posed of at a loss because of the large expense involved, and the suspicions awakened by newspaper attacks. Only the smallest sized herrings could be used for the purpose, and in order to make use of the larger ones, the so-called "sardine marinee" and the "mustard sardines," packed in larger boxes, in spices and mus tard, were adopted. The demand rapidly increased, and also the opposition to the enterprise. The entire packing by all firms, for 1880, was estimated at about 70,000 cases, while the total number reported as imported from Bordeaux, Port Louis, Nantes, Lorient, etc., did not for that year exceed 100 000. The number of fac tories has been nearly doubled since last year, there being now fifteen at Eastport, three at Dubec, three at Jonesport, and four at other places in Maine. Many retail dealers in New York and other cities, regard the American sardines with suspicion and even positive disfavor. But while the Eastport sardines are inferior to
the best imported goods, they excel the less choice brands, and there is unquestionably a place for them in the American market. The impression prevails, and has some foundation in fact, that, instead of using, as is claimed, " pure olive oil, ' the article used is largely adulterated with cotton-seed oil and other cheap oils, a trick that has also, it is said, been learned in canning French sar dines. But if they would do their best, conscientiously using pure materials, as well as availing themselves of all the latest im provements, they could not only meet with large sales, which they now do, but the market for French sardines would soon become quite limited in this country. But if that desirable day were not still in the future, the can factories of Eastport would not employ their expert tinsmiths in cutting cans from sheets ready stamped with foreign labels, but would have pride in bronzing the com pany's name on every can, in good, honest English.
And while to the skeptical consumer it may seem incredible that a fish hitherto seen chiefly in the coarse form of smoked her ring and bloaters could by any process be made to rival the delicious sardine from the land of oily( s, he should remember that the renowned "whitebait," a dish for British lords, is but the young of the English herring, which is said by the United States Fish Commission to be identical with the herring caught along the coast of northern New England. If American sardines are not now equal in all respects to those that are imported, it is due to causes that can and should be removed, and those who have ex hibited such enterprise and skill in their manufacture deserve to be encouraged to carry on to perfection the work they have begun.