BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 75 



of salmon. Experinieuts made iu ^Norway and elsewhere have showu 

 that fish cau be kept in a perfectly fresh condition by the Roosen proc- 

 ess for an indefinite time without any steps having been taken to get 

 rid of the infected air. The fish are introduced into a steel barrel con- 

 taining a solution of salt and boracic acid. The cask, after being com- 

 pletely filled with the solution, is sealed, and a pressure of from GO to 

 1)0 pounds to the square inch is maintained until the fish are required 

 for use. Large fish preserved in this way are said to remain fresh for 

 several days after being removed from the liquid. Herring might be 

 kept for a time under pressure at the fishing station, and then forwarded 

 in ordinary barrels to Billingsgate and other markets. Further, all the 

 necessary preserving appliances can be carried on board the fishing 

 boats. A boat provided with the Normal Company's (Sahlstrom's) ap- 

 pliances could cure at sea large parcels of herring and other fish, and 

 carry them (or send them by fish-carriers) direct to either home or for- 

 eign fish-markets. Sahlstrom's process, it should be remembered, ad- 

 mits of fish being either simply treated with common salt or with a 

 mixture of salt and boracic or some other acid. [From the Scotsman, 

 Edinburgh, Scotland, January 29, February 2, and March 9, 1886.] 



iil.— SCARCITY OF COD AIVI> HADDOCK OIV TOE COAST OF MAI>E. 



By N. V. TIBBETTS. 



[Letter to Prof. S. F. BaircL] 



1 resided for fifteen years, from 1855 to 1870, near the coast of Maine. 

 Most all farmers, like myself, were fishermen at times, and relied on 

 catching our yearly supply of fish of various kinds, especially codfish 

 and haddock ; but these fish have long since deserted Penobscot Bay 

 and Eggemoggin Reach, and few are left but young herring, which are 

 caught and converted into "sardines." 



If the fish do not come back themselves, and it is evident from their 

 long absence that they will not, the fishermen and farmers along our 

 coast must look to you to coax them back or give us a new supply. If 

 you will do so we will try to have a law passed, if there is not one 

 already, that may protect them from being driven away by the fisher- 

 men, as the original supply was. In my opinion, the reason why the 

 fish left our shores was because the fishermen took to using troll-lines. 

 Some say the steamboat was the cause, but I don't think that is so. 

 Codfish know no more what is going on at the surface than we know 

 about the bottom. I have caught haddock and cod where the steam- 

 boat had been over the water every day for years, and in not over ten 

 fathoms of water at that. 



TTe used to row out on the Beach two or three hundred yards from 

 shore, and in a few hours were as sure of catching a few hundred pounds 



