cured is so valuable as when fresJi cured. Therefore, the 

 Kinsale herring fishery is abandoned at a time when the 

 quality of the fish admittedly surpasses that of any other 

 fishery, and when the quantity is greatest, simply because 

 the accommodation for curing the fish is not there. The 

 food supply is curtailed by want of these curing-houses, 

 the fishermen leaving the ground solely because of their 

 absence. 



In this there is room for practical Government aid. I 

 have it on the highest authority that Kinsale herrings 

 cured fresh are superior to most others. The means and 

 enterprise for the erection of such factories are not at 

 Kinsale. The establishment of such factories would yield 

 a large profit to the projectors and builders — the Govern- 

 ment could help to develop the scheme, and especially by 

 judicious technical education. From a national point of 

 view, it seems to me they ought to, and I can only hope 

 that they will, give the matter their attention. 



Having given an idea of the importance of the fisheries 

 from which I propose to expose my digest of the improve- 

 ments that can be made in the capture and transmission, 

 &c., of sea fishes, I shall now attack the real theme of 

 my paper, and I hope to point out matters that will be 

 useful. 



The nets used in mackerel and herring fishing are usually 

 made of cotton, and various means are adopted to render 

 the cotton lasting, the principal method being to " bark " 

 them with an infusion of cutch. 



They are also tarred, and are sometimes, for a time, used 

 white. The latter is a Scotch method, for it is believed by 

 some Scotch fishermen that one season's fishing with the 

 unbarked cotton does not materially injure or aficct its 

 lasting properties ; and after the one season they either 



