Next in importance comes the sardine can ning of Maine, which did not come to a point of success until 1875, and this branch of the business outranked all others. The process of putting up fish is extensive and complicated, and since the beginning of the industry many changes have been made, more especially in the time allowed for cooking, softening the bones of the fish, and in filling, capping, label ing and boxing the same. Up to 1880 the business done in this line was very small, but gradually grew after that, and the establish ments at Eastport, Robinson, Lubec, Jones port, East Lamoine and Camden, all in Maine, are now thriving.
Besides the fishes named, smelt, sturgeon, menhaden, halibut, Spanish mackerel, eels and herring are put up in large quantities. The canning of fish is generally divided into five classes: (1) Those plain boiled or steamed, which include salmon, mackerel, halibut, lob sters, etc.; (2) those preserved in oil, of which sardines constitute the major portion; (3) those preserved with vinegar, sauces, spices, etc., among which are herring, eels and sturgeon; (4) those cooked with vegetables, namely, fish chowder, clam chowder and codfish balls; (5) those preserved by any other process, such as smoking and salting, and which are put into cans for convenience. Smoking and salting of fish is principally confined to the Eastern States lying along the Atlantic Coast, although the industry is carried on to some extent in the Pacific States.
In 1855 one-pound lobsters sold at $2.75 and salmon at $4 a dozen. No one believed him when William J. Underwood made a predic tion that the prices of salmon and lobsters would cross each other during his generation, the lobster tending upward and the salmon dropping down, a situation which has come about even earlier than he anticipated.
The canned fish production of 1909 was $14,500,000; smoked fish $3,000,000, and salt fish $7,000,000. In 1914 the total canned fish production rose to $19,000,000; smoked fish fell off to $2,760,000 and salt fish increased to over $8,000,000.
Oysters and oyster is a lamellibranch or bivalve mollusk of the genus Ostraa, the most important in commercial value to be found in American waters being Ostraa virginiana, which are generally found attached to some solid substance in the brackish waters at the mouth of rivers or in the shallow waters along the seacoast, the depths of the water in which they lie varying from 15 to 180 feet, according to temperature. The principal and most productive beds in which they were found in the early history of the industry were in Chesapeake Bay, Cape Cod and Long Island Sound, but the constant fishing up to 1860 soon depleted these, and the supply in the public beds along the coast of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Dela ware would have been exhausted long ago but for the systematic breeding and cultivation of this succulent bivalve. Maryland, Louisiana, California, Mississippi and South Carolina are now the chief sources of supply.
The canning of oysters has grown simul taneously with the canning of fish, and the two were generally carried on, in the early days of the industry, under the same roof. Thomas
Kensett was probably the pioneer of oyster canning, and commenced operations in Balti more as early as 1820, later being followed by others, but it was not until 1850 that the in dustry was put on a permanent basis. Origi nally, the oysters were opened by hand, but Louis McMurray, of Baltimore, introduced, in 1858, a new method, that of scalding the oysters before removing the shells, and this method made the removal of the oyster from the shell much easier. Two years later steam ing took the place of McMurray's method, and this process consisted of placing the oysters in baskets having a capacity of three pecks or more, and then putting these baskets into a box through which steam was passed. In 181:2 Henry Evans introduced the method of his process being as follows: The oysters were placed in cars of iron framework, six to eight feet long, which held about 20 bushels of unshucked oysters; the cars were then run on a track from the wharf to an air-tight and steam-tight box; after steaming for about 15 minutes, the cars were run into the shucking shed and opened; after shucking they were washed in cold water, packed in air tight cans, hermetically sealed and weighed; the cars were then run on a track to a steamer and treated to a sufficient degree to kill all germs of fermentation, and then cooled off in a vat of cold water. The total cost of handling a bushel of oysters by this method was estimated at 29 cents. In canning the variety of oysters found in the Gulf of Mexico, the following process was introduced in 1880 by William T. J. Mayburg: "To 10 gallons of pure water add one-half gallon of good com mercial vinegar and one-tenth gill of a sat urated aqueous solution of salicylic acid, to which mixture sufficient common salt is added to impart the requisite salty flavor to the oyster. The mixture is boiled a few minutes and poured over the oysters in the cans, which are at once sealed and placed in a steam bath, the temperature of which is 202° F. This temperature is gradually raised to and maintained at that degree for about 40 minutes. The cans are then vented, resealed and steamed as before for about 30 minutes, after which they are ready to be labeled and packed?) It seems rather extraordinary, but in 1850 oysters were packed in Boston, which found a ready sale in direct competition with Baltimore. goods, and for a number of years there was considerable rivalry between the two markets. The oysters were brought from the coasts of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and were said to have a finer flavor and to keep much better than those from the warmer waters of the South. They were packed in one- and two-pound canisters, and large sales were made in Saint Louis at $4 and $7.50 per dozen. The canned oyster production of 1909 was valued at $2,443,000, and dams at $402,000. In 1914 the figures increased to $2,677,000, and $670,000.