HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 135 



K— ECONOMICAL VALUE AND APPLICATION. 



35. — The menhaden as a table-pish. 



Its tise in afresh state. "^ 



185. In many parts of the United States menhaden are in favor as 

 table-tishes. When perfectly fresh they are superior in flavor to most 

 of the common shore-iishes, but if kept they soon acquire a rancid and 

 oily flavor. The Maine iisherman finds his breakfast of fried pogies both 

 substantial and palatable. I can testify from personal experience that 

 a bony fish chowder is not to be despised. 



They are often eaten in the vicinity of Newburyport, under the name 

 of "hard-head shad." They are considered more palatable than the 

 early runs of the river shad. 



I am indebted to Mr. Barnet Phillips, of the New York "Times," for the 

 information that in 1813, during a season of scarcity, large numbers of 

 moss bunkers, both fresh and smoked, were consumed in New York City. 

 It does not appear probable that they were ever extensively used for 

 food except in seasons of scarcity. 



Professor Gill, writing in 185G of the fishes of New York, remarks 

 that moss-bunkers appear in the markets in the fall months, but in small 

 quantities. 



Storer remarks* that the fishermen who supply Boston market with 

 codfish set their nets about the outer islands in the harbor each night 

 as they come up to the city, and examine them in the morning as they 

 go out for the day's fishing. Large numbers of menhaden are thus 

 taken, frequently one hundred barrels at a haul, and such as are not 

 used for bait are sold to the poorer classes for food, at about 64 cents 

 l^er dozen. 



The Kev. A. W. Church, editor of the Middletown (Conn.) "Constitu- 

 tion," informs me that the moss-bunker is a staple article of food among 

 the people living on the sea-coast of New Jersey in the vicinity of Bricks- 

 burg, Somers Point, etc., and ten or fifteen miles inland. Every family 

 makes a practice of salting down a barrel or two for winter use. They 

 are preferred to any other fish which can be taken in that vicinity. 



In the fall and winter the alewife is in good demand on the shores of 

 Chesapeake Bay. In November and early part of December, 1874, I 

 frequently saw twenty or thirty strings on the tables in the Washington 

 fish market and they seemed to meet with a ready sale at 40 cents a 

 string, a price nearly as high as that of striped bass, the favorite fish 

 in Washington. 



At Cape Hatteras the winter fish are in demand and are salted in 

 quantity for summer use. In 1873 they sold for $7 a barrel. The sum- 

 mer tish are used only as fertilizers. 



* Hist. Fish. Mass., \). 150. 



