VISIT TO A CURING ESTABLISHMENT. 91 



drying-rooms have'neither floors nor walls. They are, 

 however, very lofty, those in Messrs. Stacy-Watson's 

 new establishment being about twenty-five feet from 

 the rafters to the roof. The rafters at the base of the 

 rooms are six feet above the brick floor of the drying 

 house. From these rafters, nearly four feet apart, 

 spring a series of stout uprights, which reach to the 

 roof, and across these, from side to side of the build- 

 ing, parallel with the rafters, are stout rails, at inter- 

 vals of about eighteen inches. There are thus formed 

 a series of narrow, floorless compartments with skele- 

 ton walls. These are the drying-rooms. The spits, 

 full of herring, are handed up to a man, who places 

 them on the horizontal rails, so that the fish extend 

 across the room. When one pair of rails is filled, the 

 man fills the next lower pair with the spits, taking 

 care to place each spit exactly under the other. 

 W r hen a room is thus filled, any one standing on the 

 floor can look up amid the spits of herring to the 

 roof. On the brick floor, oak dust, shruff, or billet, is 

 placed and ignited, and then the process of smoking 

 begins. A herring is subjected to only one or two 

 hours' smoking to convert it into a " bloater." 



These curing-houses of Messrs. Stacy- Watson are 

 fitted with improved windows for regulating the 

 heating and ventilation. The old-fashioned plan was 

 to have sliding windows, similar to those in use on 

 the upright sides of greenhouses ; but when a drying- 

 house is filled with smoke, it is difficult for a man to 

 adjust such means of ventilation properly and expe- 

 ditiously, for it must be done quickly, as a drying- 



