CHAP, vi.] THE BRAND. 263 



herrings are regularly laid and salted, and that a cover is 

 placed on every barrel immediately after it has been com- 

 pletely packed." 



I have a very few words to say about the brand : whether 

 or not each barrel of herrings should have stamped upon it a 

 government mark indicative of its quality has been one of the 

 most fertile subjects of controversy in connection with herring 

 commerce. Now the .brand which was devised during the 

 time the British government paid a bounty to the curer as 

 an encouragement to fish for herrings is voluntary, and has 

 to be paid for, and in time, there can be no doubt, it will be 

 altogether discontinued ; and it would have been better perhaps 

 had it never existed, although its continuance has been advo- 

 cated by many excellent persons on the ground of its service 

 to the fisheries. Other kinds of goods have been able to com- 

 mand a market without the interference of government 

 such as cotton and other textile fabrics, cheese, etc. Why 

 then could not we sell our herrings on the faith of the curer ? 

 Government is not asked to brand our broadcloths, or our 

 blankets, nor yet our steam-engines ; and I hope soon to see a 

 total abolition of the brand on our herring-barrels ; but al- 

 though I am an advocate for the total abolition of the brand 

 I wish the present Fishery Board continued : there is ample 

 employment for all the officers of that Board in acting as 

 statisticians and police \ we can never obtain sufficient infor- 

 mation about the capture and disposal of the fish, the fluctua- 

 tions of the fishery, etc. etc. 



The following detailed description of the " herring-harvest," 

 as gathered in the Moray Frith, may be of interest to the 

 general reader. It is reprinted, by permission, from a paper 

 contributed by the author to the Cornliill Magazine : 



The boats usually start for the fishing-ground an hour or 

 two before sunset, and are generally manned by four men and 

 a boy, in addition to the owner or skipper. The nets, which 



