Report of the commissioner for 1878 : part VI.

  • United States Fish Commission.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the commissioner for 1878 : part VI. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    195/1174 (page 93)
    ing the cold to fall out in the room; therefore the wall-reservoirs, which appear as closed conduits, are given an oblique position, so that the cold from the uppermost ice may fall out freely and operate as a correspond- ing ice-blast from the ceiling. The floor is least liable to an invasion of warmth; the ice-receiver here is, therefore, most poorly supplied with ice. To protect the provisions against ice-water drip from the ice-box, there are placed conduits and conductors. As for the rest the oblique position of the reservoir will contribute toward carrying the ice-water away with- out dripping. When once the warm air is expelled and the ice has su- premacy, it requires less to maintain freezing for a year or as long as one wishes. This vault of 10 by 80 by 11 feet, or 8,800 cubic feet, could easily hold 100,000 pounds of fish. It was divided by walls and ice-pipes into four parts, each part furnished with an endless number of shelves of mould- ing. To keep the temperature in the wiiole apparatus some degrees below the freezing-point, 1,400 pounds of ice is required daily in the heat of summer. The price of the ice was about $4 per ton of 2,000 pounds. The expenses in this respect were therefore only about $2.80 per day in the heat of summer and proportionally less during the remainder of the year. In winter are required for the apparatus only about 1,000 pounds of ice per week, about 29 cents per day. In the cooler country of Nor- way an apparatus of this size would require a smaller quantity of ice, and the ice would be had at a much cheaper rate, in Bergen City for instance, for $1.04 to $2.18 per ton, which would amount to only 82 cents to $1.09 per week to preserve 100,000 pounds of fresh fish in winter; truly, a cheap preserving! Even a smaller quantity of fish could profit- ably be stored here when the prices in midsummer are very low, and it could be calculated upon with safety that they would advance later in the autumn, as happens with the price of salmon, which rises from 10 and 12 cents to 25 and 30 cents; yes, as high as 50 cents a pound toward Christmas. But it will readily be perceived that a quantity of fish, say only 1,000 pounds, would not support the increased expenses of an ap- paratus so large for a longer time. Not every kind of fish can endure such cold, but like many kinds of provisions some lose much in flavor. And even the articles of food which endure it must be treated in a peculiar manner. Among other things it must be observed carefully that fish intended for storing in cold must be frozen stiff immediately, or as fresh as possible. Delaying the stiff- freezing some time, or, under certain circumstances, any time, is a source of great loss. Also, in thawing, measures must be taken that nothing shall be spoiled. Thawing must, by preference, take place in cold air so as to “repel (skyde) the ice,” as it is called in the Norwegian household language, before further dressing or cooking can occur. The kinds of fishes which best endure storing in cold are salmon and halibut ; next very fat herring and mackerel; but cod and flounders and other common fishes will lose their flavor; also oysters. The fatter fish