The Sardine Fishery. 81 



were shipped to Mediterranean ports and the Spanish 

 West Indies. Very few are preserved, the French holding 

 the monopoly of this trade. The fishery is carried on from 

 July to February, but the fish are in the best condition and 

 most abundant in November and December. 



Dried sardines (" hosi-ka ") in Japan are considered a 

 superior manure, but the price is often too high for poor 

 cultivators to use them. These small fish abound in some 

 of the seas around, so that small boats can hardly make 

 their way through them. They are caught in large shoals 

 to extract the oil from them. This oil is used for burning 

 by the lower classes, but is of very inferior quality, and 

 gives off a good deal of black dense smoke. The residue, 

 after the oil is extracted, is sold for manure. A cwt. of 

 this manure costs about 3^. 6d. 



The Anchovy is another fish, the capture and cure of 

 which gives extensive employment on the French Atlantic 

 coast and in the Mediterranean. The value of the fish 

 caught on the French coasts ranges from 16,000 to 

 20,000 per annum. The fishery is carried on from May 

 to October. After gutting and removing the head, they 

 are washed and simply placed in barrels, with layers of salt, 

 and a little reddish ochreous earth added to give them a 

 colour. 



Anchovies are also caught and salted in Norway, the 

 shipments occasionally reaching 20,000 kegs. 



The Americans have begun to utilize the Menhaden, or 

 moss-bunker, by preserving it in oil like the French sardines. 

 This fish has been variously named Brevortea menhaden and 

 Alosa menhaden. The objection to these fish for general 

 use is that they are very bony. The American Sardine 

 Company, by some mechanical process, have removed this 

 objection. 



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