HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 469 



06. No steps have been taken to increase the abundance of this fish 

 by artificial culture. 



67. These fish have no protection from any source. 



68. No epidemic or other disease has ever been noticed among them 

 on the coast. 



69. If such has ever taken jilace, the time and cause are unknown. 



70. Worms and lampreys are found in the gills and about the fins of 

 these fish. 



71. The fish are caught in nets. 



72. For ordinary purposes in set-nets of from 50 to 60 yards long, 1^ 

 to If inch mesh, and from 20 to 30 meshes deep. These nets are gen- 

 erally set at night with both ends made fast, and remain in the water 

 during the entire night, so the fish are caught in the nighttime. But 

 when they are caught for the purpose of manufacturing into oil and 

 manure, they are hauled ashore at the inlet and on the sea-beach with 

 large seines, or taken with purse-nets. This latter performance can be 

 done more effectually in moderate weather when the fish are in schools. 



73. 74. It may be taken in nets from the 1st of October to the 1st of 

 December. They are never taken with hook. 



75. One good seine, of proper size to suit the depth of water, might 

 haul ashore in a day at least 100 barrels of fish along the beach. This 

 is only at times when the tailors drive them in to the beach. In some 

 seasons we might get ten, in others not more than two, good days' fish- 

 ing. 



76. A purse-net will take of a good day 15 to 20 barrels, while a set 

 net only 4 to 5 in a night. 



77. It is caught more on flood -tide than on ebb, for they go off shore 

 on ebb-tide. 



78. The fish caught are used on the apot, except occasionally some 

 are taken at sea in purse-nets by vessels connected with some oil-factory 

 on the northern .coast. 



79. It is an excellent food, fresh or canned and smoked. 



80. It sustains its excellence as a fresh fish only a short time, owing 

 to the temperature of the weather. 



81. It is eaten to a great extent by the fishermen and others along the 

 coast. 



82. It is salted down in quantities only to save from one season to 

 another. 



83. It has been used for oil and manure to some extent, but there is 

 no establishment of this kind on the coast at present. 



84. These fish are not carried to market in any abundance, but when 

 any are sold they are worth frou5 $8 to $10 per thousand. The prices 

 vary according to the quantity of fish in market. 



85. These fish have never been exported from North Carolina. 



86. The principal market of the fatback is in country places among 

 farmers and freedmen. 



