CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
90 per cent of our shad was shipped 
east last year, about 67 carloads in all, 
much of it going to the Atlantic seaboard, 
where the local supply was not great 
enough to supply the demand. There it 
sold at a price that commanded consid- 
eration and that placed it in a class of 
undoubted respectability. So this fish 
that we do not value appears, after a 
journey of over 2,000 miles, on the table 
of the epicure. Planked shad has been a 
tradition on the Atlantic coast since the 
time of George Washington, and anyone 
who may have been elected by the gods 
to eat planked shad at Marshall Hall, 
near Mount Vernon, will remember the 
oeeasion with reverence. It is commer- 
cially the most valuable food fish on the 
Atlantic coast. ; 
We complain that the shad is bony. 
That is freely admitted. It is very bony, 
but it is just as bony when it arrives on 
the east coast, and people there are only 
too glad to remove the bones for the sake 
of the savory reward. It is not incon- 
ceivable that part of the flavor results 
from the trouble of removing the bones. 
That which comes without effort is 
usually not worth while. However, a 
little experience will teach one to remove 
the bones with very little trouble. 
The shad passes most of its life in salt 
water, but annually migrates to fresh 
water for the purpose of spawning. It is 
during its migration up the rivers that it 
is caught, though a few are taken in the 
ocean. Little is known of its life in the 
ocean, and little is known of its food, for 
it eats scarcely at all while in the rivers. 
Furthermore, our shad does not naturally 
belong to the Pacific coast fauna. Sev- 
eral times between the years 1871 and 
1880 young shad were shipped from the 
Atlantie coast and planted in the San 
Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. Now it 
is one of our abundant fishes. 
The shad is doubly a cheap fish at 
present, for it is oily enough to require 
very little additional fat in cooking. But 
it will not remain a cheap fish when it is 
appreciated, for the supply will not stand 
a great demand here any more than if 
has on the Atlantie coast. 
The shad season is now on. Let 
keep for our own consumption this ex- 
cellent fish. Sending our shad east is 
us 
143 
admitting that we lack epicurean educa- 
tion. 
Try it baked: Season fish well with 
salt and pepper and sprinkle lightly with 
eorn flour. Lay it on a flat baking dish 
and spread over it about a teaspoonful 
of oil or meat drippings. Bake in a brisk 
oven from 20 minutes to a _ half-hour, 
basting occasionally with a little milk and 
water, or with just water. Serve with 
Jemon or tartar sauce. In a gas oven 
the fish may be placed under the flame 
and turned over. 
COMMITTEE ON ZOOLOGICAL INVESTIGA- 
TIONS, CALIFORNIA STATE COUNCIL 
OF DEFENSE. 
CHEAP FISH ARE OFTEN THE BEST. 
With the exception of the salmon there 
is scarcely a fish that is expensive because 
it is good. The salmon is worth all that 
is asked for it at its highest price. It is 
not a cheap fish, nor should it be, for 
there is a market for every salmon that 
is caught, even if it never appeared in 
the fresh fish market. 
Though people think of the sardine 
more as a canned fish, it is, if used fresh 
and fried, or broiled, or baked, one of 
our most delicious fishes. (Do not let 
the market-man sell you herring for sar- 
dines. The sardine usually has dark 
spots on the side, but not always. But 
it always has fine raised lines or ridges 
on the gill cover that extend downward 
and spread out fan-like.) In San Fran- 
cisco the sardine may be had for five 
cents per pound, and it should be had 
| that cheaply everywhere in the state 
where the demand is great enough to 
enable the dealer to order a 100-pound 
box at one time, for the fishermen receive 
less than a cent a pound for it (from 
$10 to $18 per ton). 
The striped bass retails in San Fran- 
cisco at five times the price asked for the 
sardine. Now, it is a dangerous thing to 
assert that one of two good fishes is the 
better, for tastes differ more perhaps in 
fish food than in other food. Some like 
a rich, fine-fleshed fish, while some prefer 
a drier, coarser fish; some like one flavor, 
some another. It is a case of Jack Sprat 
over again. The writer (and he is not 
alone in this opinion) would prefer the 
even if the above prices were 
sardine 
