BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 419 



on the upper iron. The best materials for smoking are pieees of beech 

 wood or alder shavings ; and in case of necessity, beech and oak shav- 

 ings can be used. It should be stated, however, that oak is apt to im- 

 part a bitter flavor to the fish." 



The two ovens described above are exceedingly practical and econom 

 ical, and are more to be recommended than the so-called Flensborg and 

 Ellerbek ovens. 



A larger smoke-house in Svauike, on the island of Bornholm, is about 

 18 yards square and 4 yards high, while the chimney is 6 feet high 

 and 4 feet broad. There are seven smoke-rooms, or ovens, for hot- 

 smoking, and one for cold-smoking. The herring are hung in pairs 

 over poles 3 feet long, one herring's head being stuck through the gills 

 of the other and coming out at the mouth. If necessary, a thin stick of 

 wood serves as a skewer. On each pole about 40 herring can be hung, 

 which must not touch each other. The poles are arranged crosswise over 

 square frames, 3 feet broad and 7 feet long, which are run into the oven 

 on ledges. Each frame contains 26 poles, and about 1,040 herring can 

 be smoked in it at the same time. The entire smoke- house can contain 

 22,400 herring, which are smoked by the hot method. The lowest frame 

 is about 3 feet above the fireplace. In the cold-smoke chimney about 

 12,000 herring can be smoked. The fuel used is alder-wood, which is 

 moistened a little so as to make more smoke, and oak and beech saw- 

 dust so as to keep the flames down when they blaze up too high. The 

 price of sawdust is about 52 crowns [about $14] per load at Hillerod, 

 in Seeland. It is shipped from Copenhagen to Bornholm in sacks con- 

 taining 40 pounds each. The total freight per 100 pounds is 15 cents. 

 Alder- wood costs $4.55 per cord. The quantity of fuel used for smoking 

 8,000 herring is about one-quarter cord of wood and one sack of sawdust. 



The herring are smoked either cleaned or whole. In the first case 

 they are cleaned, washed in fresh water, and then laid in strong salt 

 brine for about half an hour. For the Danish market the herring are 

 considered to be sufficiently penetrated by the salt brine when a small 

 black spot appears in the eyeball, which at first became white when the 

 fish were put in the brine. The herring are then dried (hung up on 

 frames), if possible in the open air; but when the air is moist they are 

 dried on the upper frames in the oven. The last-mentioned method 

 takes from one-quarter to one hour. When the hot-smoking method is 

 employed, herring are thoroughly smoked in from one and one-hplf to 

 three hours, and in the cold method in about seven hours. The work 

 in this smoke-house generally occupies twelve or fourteen women. The 

 wages are 2 J cents per hour. One woman is needed to attend to each 

 oven, the others are engaged in cleaning, salting, hanging, and packing 

 the herring. Care should be taken that the oven is well heated and 

 dried before the fish are hung in it, as the development of steam is apt 

 to injure the fish. It requires some practice to attend to such an oven. 

 The principle of hot-smoking is simply this, that the herring are cooked 



