EMDEN JOINT-STOCK HERRING-FISHERY ASSOCIATION. 755 



bridge, and the one above the packing-cellar has a trap-door leading 

 down to it. In the northern store-house there are, on the same floor, the 

 o£Bce of the association and a room for storing provisions. In the south- 

 ern store-house there is at one end the dwelling of the store-house keeper, 

 and at the other end a room for tools and materials. An outside stair- 

 case leads to the large second-story room, where about 20 women and 

 girls are busy all the year round mending nets. Above this room there 

 is a large garret-room, where different materials for the nets are prepared. 

 This gives constant employment to several men. In the northern store- 

 house a staircase leads to a large room in which the nets are kept dur- 

 ing winter. This room has no windows, but blinds, which are opened in 

 dry and closed in wet weather. The garret- room has twelve compart- 

 ments, in which the sails, cordage, &c., of every vessel are kept separate. 

 The net-store-room is, by a bridge, connected with the net mending 

 room. South of these two store-houses there is a large wooden shed for 

 storing staves, hoops, and barrels ; north of this shed there is a stone 

 building, containing the coopers' shop. A well 170 feet deep furnishes 

 good water for providing the vessels with drinking-water and for mak- 

 ing the finished barrels tight. In the eastern corner of the lot there is 

 a tanning establishment. The catechu is kept in a closed space ; in the 

 w^alls of this space there are two copper kettles in which the catechu is 

 dissolved in hot water ; from the kettles it is by pipes conveyed to two 

 square cemented holes in the ground, in which the nets are tanned. 

 These holes have a roofed building over them, which, however, is open 

 on three sides. The upper edges of these holes have rollers, so the nets 

 cannot be injured in taking them out. The tannery building likewise 

 contains the modest dwelling of the tanner. Near it there are long rows 

 of poles on which the nets are hung up to dry. For drying those nets 

 which have been used a narrow strip of land extending along the har- 

 bor has been rented from the city. There is nothing to hinder the in- 

 crease of the lot to double its present size, as the ground bordering on 

 it only contains a small house used for no particular purpose, and is 

 owned by the government. It is probable that no Dutch establishment 

 combines as manj^ advantages as the Emden one. 



The chief centers of the herring-fisheries are Vlaardingen and Maas- 

 sluis. These are located on the river Meuse, but they are not on a 

 railroad. The total cost of the new buildings, the tracks, fences, paved 

 sidewalks, 6 piers, and well, has not exceeded $20,000 ; which is cer- 

 tainly so small a sum that it would have been difficult to put up the 

 same establishment at such a price in any other city. 



With all these favorable conditions, it seemed altogether incompre- 

 hensible that after two successful years a comparatively large number 

 of nets were lost, and there was a very sudden decrease in the number 

 offish caught during the year 1874. Everything, however, had been 

 so well regulated that a dividend of If per cent, could have been de- 

 clared if it had not become necessary to reserve all the profits j as some 



