USEFUL PROJECTS. 



837 



to pack them properly, tlicy are 

 takfii out of the picklo, suffered to 

 drain suRidently, and then packed 

 in barrels Mhich are strewed at bot- 

 tom pretty thickly with silt, and, 

 if there is time enough, tliey are 

 neatly laid in strata, or layers, al- 

 irays strewing sufficient salt upon 

 each layer : but, if they arc thrown 

 in promiscuously, with as much sa't 

 as is requisite to preserve them from 

 spoiling. When this is done in 

 strata, each new layer is pressed 

 down hard upon the preceding. — 

 This last-mcntioncd process, how- 

 ever, cannot eai^ily be attended to 

 at sea. especially when the fishery is 

 very abundant. Hence, if the fish are 

 to be exported, or remain long un- 

 used, they are repacked on shore, 

 laid m fresh salt, and pressed down 

 hard ; without which precaution 

 herrings exported by sea would spoil. 

 The same practice is pursued iii 

 France, Hamburgh, and doubtless 

 elsewhere. At Hamburgh, as in 

 Holland, they are packed in the 

 open air, ten packers and three 

 overseers being appointed for the 

 purpose, and all sworn. Besides 

 repacking, the packers in the mari- 

 time towns have also to pick and 

 assort the fish according to their 

 goodness, salt them anew, and put 

 them in fresh pickle. It is also ge- 

 nerally a part of the magistrates' and 

 trading companies oaths not to suf- 

 fer any bad fish to be delivered from 

 the quay or custom house. 



After i)acking, whether the goods 

 are intended for exportation or 

 home consumption, whether jjrcssed 

 down hard or not, they arc regu- 

 Idrly coopered, that the pickle may 

 not leak out, and the fisli turn yel- 

 low or spoil, which takes place the 

 moment they are deficient in pickle. 

 Properly, tlie herrings should on 

 the very day on which they arc 



taken, not only be gutted, but salt- 

 ed and put in casks, or at least 

 should not lie more than one night 

 in the first pickle : and accordingly 

 such herrings are distinguished in 

 France by the name of haren^^ d'une 

 null. But when the fishery is abun- 

 dant, this is not always possible; 

 so that only a part can be properly 

 attended to ; and the rest, after be- 

 ing gutted, must unavoidably re- 

 main, at least the whole following 

 day, if not longer, in the first 

 pickle; the regular packing of them 

 being postponed till the third day. 

 These fish having stood two nights 

 on deck in the open air, are called 

 hcirengs de deux mats. But such 

 goods not only arc inferior, but do 

 not keep so well as the former. 



If the fishermen mean again t-j 

 cast their nets on the following night, 

 or if, on account of the great abun- 

 dance of the shoals, tliey do not ex- 

 peft to complete the salting and re- 

 gular packing in two days, the fish, 

 Avhich they cannot so complete, are 

 salted in large heaps, and are then 

 called slabbers, or dabbcgut, coarse 

 goods.' These are frequently too 

 salt, because want of time prevents 

 their being properly managed. They 

 are put into the schuyts, which al- 

 ways accompany the herring busses, 

 and washed ; after which they are 

 smoked, though not so much as th» 

 bi(;klings (bi'ickUni^e.), or red her- 

 rings. The Salted herrings hitherto 

 spoken of are called bockel heniiiga, 

 or pickled herrings, or, in general, 

 phiinly herrings ; those properly 

 salted and packed in layers, packed 

 or barrel herrings; and those half 

 salted, and promiscuously packed in 

 barrels, wrack herrings. 



The other mode of curing, called 

 red salting, is thus performed. Whi-n 

 the fish are taken out of the above- 

 described picklcj in which, how- 



3 H 3 i:ver, 



