[9] THE SALTING OF HERRING. ^-JT) 



The leadiug- principle in sorting should be to follow tlie division of 

 the herring adopted by the Scotch and Durdi, und to some ext(Mit, also, 

 by us. 



1. Fat herring, including herring containing fat, or from which the 

 fat has been removed, and with sexual organs little or not at all de- 

 veloped. 



2. Full herring, which should be subdivided into milters and spawners. 



3. Empty herring, having neither fat, roe, nor milt. 



As each of the above-mentioned kinds are generally caught sepa- 

 rately, the sorting will be easy; and as a rule it will not be necessary 

 to sort the lish. Each of the above-mentioned kinds of herring should 

 then be sorted according to their size, as is now done with the summer 

 herring, using, however, a different nomenclature. 



It is well-known that at present the summer herring are, in Norway, 

 divided into "merchant's herring," "medium herring," " large Chris- 

 tiania herring," " small Christiania herring," " small herring," &c., 

 names which do not indicate the same size under all circumstances. 

 The size of each of these kinds not only varies in the different years, 

 but depends a good deal on the individual taste of the manufacturer or 

 buyer, and even sometimes, in one and the same year, on the different 

 localities where the herring have been caught. The most rational 

 method of sorting would be the one i)roposed by a contributor to our 

 journal,* viz., to sort the fish according to their length, so that stroke 

 would indicate herring measuring more than oO centimetersf [12 inches]; 

 1 stroke, from 30 to 27.1 centimeters; 2 strokes, from 27 to 24.1 centi- 

 meters ; 3 strokes, from 2-4 to 21.1 centimeters ; 4 strokes, from 21 to 18.1 

 centimeters; 5 strokes, from 18 centimeters [7.1 inches] and less; and to 

 use the same system for indicating the different subdivisions of the three 

 principal classes or sorts referred to above. As a margin is left of 3 

 centimeters, the greater or less fleshiness of the herring, to which some 

 regard should be had in sorting, will also be taken into account. AVe 

 pass by the fraudulent method of sorting, which consists in placing 

 good herring at both ends of the keg and poor ones in the middle, and 

 wbich will sooner or later meet with its deserved punishment, although 

 this will probably not be so severe as the one given in the old Skaiior 

 and Falstcrbo law, whose article 48 says: "Any i)erson Avho, in salting 

 herring, i)uts other than good herring in his kegs, shall, if found out, 

 lose his life." 



In conclusion, we would observe that by careless sorting, the good fish 

 will, as a general rule, not bring the price which ought to be ])aid for 

 them, and being found in bad company they will be judged accordingly. 

 It is the same with herring as with human beings, they are judged by 

 the company which they keep. 



'July number, 1882, p. 14. 



i Under this category would come most of the Bpring herring, great herring, and 

 Iceland herring. 



