480 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



time, in poorer flesh than those taken along the American shore. Owing to the distance of the 

 fishing grounds, they must necessarily be salted before being stowed in the vessel. They are 

 usually salted in bulk, as already described in the chapter on the Magdalen herring trade, and on 

 arriving at their destination are placed in floating cars or crates beside the wharf, where they are 

 allowed to soak for some hours to remove the surplus salt which they have taken up. When 

 sufficiently freshened they are strung and smoked in the ordinary manner, the ouly difference being 

 that the time required in smoking is greater than for the smaller and fresher fish taken on our own 

 coast. 



KEEPING IN SMOKE-HOUSE. If, for any reason, it is not thought desirable to market the fish 

 as soon as they.have been cured, they are usually allowed to remain hanging in the smoke-house, 

 where a fire is built under them every two weeks to dry off any moisture that may accumulate. 

 They keep better in this way than when packed in the ordiuary herring-boxes. 



PACKING. When the packing-time arrives the fish are carried to the "shop," or packing-house, 

 where they are removed from the sticks and placed in boxes made expressly for them. At the 

 close of the eighteenth and the early part of the present century they were marketed in kegs 

 holding about a bushel each.* Later, as the trade increased, boxes were substituted, their shape 

 and dimensions being regulated by special legislation, that there might be a uniformity in size. 

 The quality of the fish was also regulated by law, and an inspector was appointed to visit the 

 smoke-houses in person or to send a deputy to cull the herring into grades and see that they were 

 properly boxed and branded. The first boxes, known as the "half-bushel boxes," were 18 inches 

 long, 9 inches wide, and 7 inches deep, inside measurement. When purchased they cost from $8 

 to $10 per hundred; but the fishermen frequently made their own supply, visiting the forests, felling 

 the trees, and rifting out the material by hand. Later, as the saw- mills became more numerous, 

 the sawed boards were purchased by the fishermen and cut into the proper lengths. Of late years 

 the material for herring-boxes is usually made from refuse lumber and short pieces at the various 

 saw-mills along the coast, and shipped in the form of shocks. These are made up by the fisher- 

 men during their leisure hours, and cost, when ready for use, about If cents each. The best work- 

 man can make five hundred of them in a day, while the average is not far from three hundred. 



Certain States have repealed their laws regulating the size of the boxes, and in some others, 

 though the laws still remain upou the statute-books, they are practically a dead letter, as they are 

 seldom, if ever, enforced. Notwithstanding these facts, the boxes used in the various localities 

 are still of nearly uniform size, being usually 15 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 4 inches deep, 

 inside measurement. At Eastport, however, where large herring are extensively smoked, the boxes 

 for the brand known as " lengthwise herring" are 15 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 3 inches deep, 

 holding about the same weight of fish as the other. 



The first law relating to smoked herring established two brands, namely, fish of the "first" 

 and " second" quality. About 1822 this was modified to accommodate the newly -introduced scaled 

 herring, thus making three brands; the scaled, number ones, and number twos. The scaled herring 

 included all the best fish of medium size that were well scaled. The number ones were a good 

 quality of fish, of small size, and such unsealed fish as were in good condition and of good color, 

 while the number twos were the poor fish of various sizes, including those from the Magdalen 

 Islands. Mr. M. H. Perley, in speaking of the smoked herring of Maine in 1851, at which time the 

 laws had been again modified, says: " When sufficiently cured, the herrings are packed in boxes of 

 the legal size in Maine that is, 17 inches long, 8^ inches wide, and 6 inches deep, measured on the 



* It is said that kegs are still used by the French for marketing their fish, and that such care is taken in packing 

 that each layer of herring is separated by a thin board. 



