FISH CURING 



3171 



FISHER 



called " croys " in Scotland, are 

 particularly valuable in swift rocky 

 or moorland streams where there 

 is not any great accumulation of 

 silt or mud. 



Flat fish, such as plaice, sole, 

 and turbot, are being reared in 

 large numbers by the Scottish 

 Fishery Board at ponds on the 

 shore of the bay of Nigg, near 

 Aberdeen, and elsewhere. The 

 Norwegian government liberates 

 yearly hundreds of millions of 

 young cod hatched in salt water 

 ponds. On the W. coast of France 

 there are a number of brackish 

 ponds, where salt-water fish are not 

 only hatched but raised to matu- 

 rity for the market. It is there that 

 the curious fact was first dis- 

 covered that plaice, dabs, and 

 several other species of flat fish will 

 fatten as rapidly in water that is 

 almost fresh as in tidal ponds. 

 The Fish Commission of the U.S.A. 

 practises the artificial rearing of 

 marine fish on the greatest scale. 

 Shad, in particular, are reared hi 

 millions, and the artificial propa- 

 gation of lobster is pursued with 

 great success. See Close Time. 



T. C. Bridges 



Fish Curing. Curing, drying, 

 pickling, or otherwise preserving 

 fish. The curing of cod, mackerel, 

 and herring are the most impor- 

 tant branches of the industry in 

 Great Britain, and the methods 

 employed in large Scottish curing- 

 yards are typical. Cod are gutted 

 and bled as soon as they are caught, 

 being carefully packed in boxes, or 

 otherwise protected from the sun 

 and air. 



As soon as the fish have been 

 brought ashore, the heads are cut 

 off and the fish carefully cleaned 

 by being brushed in fresh water, 

 and then split. The backbone is cut 

 about 20 joints from the tail. The 

 fish are then washed in salt water, 

 and the black lining membrane 

 removed. They are then pickled in 

 covered vessels, the proportion of 

 salt allowed being about 50 Ib. to 

 100 Ib. of the dried, cured fish. 

 In packing the fish into barrels a 

 particular method is adopted, as a 

 result of which the lighter side of 

 the fish is uppermost, until the 

 top layer is reached, when the 

 dark side is placed upmost. Two 

 fish make a layer in the barrel. In 

 1913 the amount of dried codfish 

 in Scotland was 161,722 cwt., 

 from which 3,279 barrels of pickled 

 cod were obtained, and over 

 120,000 cwt. of smoked cod. 



Mackerel should be split, cleaned, 

 and salted as soon as possible, 

 because this fish soon becomes soft 

 and flabby. The fish are cut with a 

 clean, sharp knife down the back 

 from head to tail. The intestines 



are extracted, the gills removed, 

 and the blood expressed. The fish 

 is then washed in three stages, the 

 first merely a quick swill, the second 

 a short soaking, and in the third 

 the fish are left in clean water for 

 about an hour. Finally, the mack- 

 erel are reamed and salted, the 

 reaming consisting of the making 

 of a shallow cut from the bottom 

 of the belly to the head. Salting is 

 done as quickly as possible, suffi- 

 cient salt being used to cover every 

 part lightly, the fish then being 

 transferred to a barrel in which 

 enough salt is placed between the 

 layers to prevent actual contact 

 between fish and fish. The pickle, 

 which consists of clean salt water 

 or clean fresh water with salt 

 added, is put in until the barrel is 

 quite full, and in this the mackerel 

 are left five or six days. After 

 this the mackerel are re-packed into 

 the final shipping- barrel. 



Herring curing is carried on on a 

 very large scale in normal times hi 

 Great Britain. As a rule only the 

 large and medium fish are used. 

 Curing commences directly the 

 herrings are emptied into the far- 

 land, a large oblong box about 

 2 ft. high, with inward sloping 

 sides and ends to allow the gutters 

 to work more conveniently. As the 

 fish are emptied into the farland, 

 platefuls of salt are thrown on to 

 them at once. A light sprinkling 

 is sufficient if they are to be gutted 

 immediately, a more heavy sprink- 

 ling if they are to be left all night. 

 The women gutters stand usually 

 at one side of the farland and work 

 with great rapidity. A sharp- 

 bladed knife is inserted through 

 the gills, with the edge towards the 

 worker. By means of a sharp 

 movement the gills and the 

 stomach, etc., are completely re- 

 moved. The gutted herrings are 

 then salted until every fish has 

 come into contact with the salt. 



The herrings are packed tier by 

 tier, the heads to the sides of the 

 barrel, the tails meeting or over- 

 lapping, the middle herring being 

 placed in front of the tails of the 

 last two, then two more with their 

 heads to the sides of the barrel, 

 this being repeated until the tier 

 is complete. Salt is sprinkled be- 

 tween the tiers. One barrel of salt 

 is usually necessary to cure three 

 barrels of herrings. The herrings 

 are packed a little above the level 

 of the barrel at first, as they sink a 

 little in the salt. On the following 

 day the barrels are filled up to the 

 level, the ends put in, and the 

 barrels laid on their sides. They 

 are left hi this way for eight or ten 

 days. They are then bored in the 

 bilge, set on their ends, and the 

 pickle is run ofi through the bung- 



hole. In normal times the herring- 

 curing business can be seen on a 

 large scale in Shetland from the 

 beginning of May until the middle 

 or end of Sept., and on an average, 

 in normal years, 100,000 barrels 

 are sent annually from Shetland 

 to Petrograd alone. See The Art 

 of Fish-curing, R. J. Duthie, 1911. 



O. Leighton, M.D. 



Fisher, ANDREW (b. 1862). 

 Australian politician. Born Aug. 

 29, 1862, at Crosshouse, Kilmar- 

 nock, Scot- 

 1 a n d, he 

 worked as a 

 boy in the 

 coalmines. In 

 1885 he emi- 

 grated to 

 Queensland, 

 and in 1893 

 was elected in 

 the labour Andrew Fisher, 

 interest to Australian pohtician 

 the state legislature. In 1899 he was 

 made minister of rlys. Fisher 

 entered the Commonwealth parlia- 

 ment as M.P. for Wide Bay in 1900. 

 In 1904 he became minister of trade 

 and customs, and in 1907 leader of 

 the labour party. As such he was 

 prime minister for a few months 

 in 1908-9. In 1910 the labour 

 party returned to power, and he 

 was prime minister until 1913, 

 when his party was defeated. 

 Fisher returned to power in 1914, 

 and he was premier when the 

 Great War broke out. In Oct., 

 1915, he resigned the premiership 

 to become high commissioner for 

 the Commonwealth in England 

 resigning in 1921. 



Fisher, HERBERT ALBERT LAU- 

 EBNS (b. 1865). British historian 

 Born in London, 

 March21,1865, 

 he had a bril- 

 liant career at 

 Winchester 

 and New Col- 

 e, Oxford, 

 o which he be- 

 came a fellow. 

 As lecturer and 

 tutor hi history 

 he remained in 

 Oxford until 

 1912, when he was chosen vice- 

 chancellor of Sheffield university, 

 holding that post until in 1916 

 he was made president of the 

 board of education, resigning in 

 Oct., 1922. As such he was re- 

 sponsible for the Education Act 

 of 1918. He entered Parliament 

 as M.P. for Sheffield in 1916, and 

 in 1918 and 1923 was returned as 

 a member for the newer English 

 universities. In 1907 he became a 

 fellow of the British Academy, and 

 in 1909 delivered the Lowell lec- 

 tures at Boston. Fisher's historical 



and politician. 



'M% 



Herbert Fisher, 

 British historian 



