The Ely Miner

PACKING SARDINES.

How an Interesting and Important New England Industry Is Conducted.

The packing of small herrings, or, as they are often called, "American sardines," is an important industry in Maine. In that state there are 50 factories, which give employment to a large number of hands during four or five months of the year. The annual output is estimated to be of an average value of $3,000,000, and about half of this amount finds its way into the pockets of the factory employes in the form of wages.

The fish are caught in seines scattered all along the coast for a distance of about a hundred miles. After the fish are taken in sailboats to the factories they are thrown into strong brine, where they remain for some time. They are then laid on iron crates and conveyed to an immense oven, where the crates are laid on revolving shelves. After 20 minutes' cooking the fish are ready for packing.

There are two methods of packing, one in oil, the other in mustard. The ground mustard is mixed with vinegar; for oil packing cotton seed oil is used. About a gill of oil is put into a can, and then the baked fish from the ovens are carefully packed into it and the cover snapped on. The pans then go to the sealer, who sits in front of a little furnace in which his soldering iron is plunged. Seizing the can, he runs the heated iron around the cover, holding the solder just in front of it, and seals the can so rapidly that the eye can hardly follow his movements. The sealed cans are thrown into a bath of boiling water, in which they remain for two hours. If any of them leak the tops will bulge out, and these go back to be resealed. After the cans are cleaned with sawdust they are packed into cases and put on the market as genuine American sardines in pure olive oil.