CHAP. VIL] EFFOKTS OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. 331 



brief period of three hours. In that period many a poor 

 woman was made miserable, and many a hearth rendered 

 cheerless. It is gratifying to think that since the date of the 

 great storm considerable improvement has been made in the 

 Scottish fishery harbours, and that at Wick a great harbour of 

 refuge is now in progress. The weather prophecies now pub- 

 lished by the Board of Trade, and telegraphed to all important 

 seaports, are also of great use to the fisher-folk, as are the 

 large barometers which have been erected in nearly every 

 fishing village. These are the elements of science which will 

 ultimately chase away superstition from our sea-coast villages, 

 if indeed we can honestly call the poetic fancies of these 

 fisher-folks superstitions. We cannot wonder that, as the dark 

 remembrance of some great bereavement escapes from the cham- 

 bers of their memory, they see forms in the flying clouds, or 

 hear voices in the air, that cannot be seen or heard by lands- 

 men unaccustomed to the treacherous waters of the great 

 deep. 



Large quantities of fish offal are used by the farmers as 

 manure. The intestines of the herring are regularly sold for 

 the purpose of being thrown upon the land, and I have heard 

 of as many as three hundred barrels of haddock offal being 

 sold from one curing-yard. It is thought by some economists 

 that the commoner kinds of fish might be largely captured 

 and converted into fish guano. I have not studied that part 

 of the fishing question very deeply, but I am disposed to 

 doubt the propriety of employing fishing vessels to capture 

 coarse fish for manure, as I do not think it will pay to do so. 

 In former years fish were extensively used as manure, but that 

 was during seasons when the capture was so large as to pro- 

 duce a glut. I reprint, in the shape of an appendix to this 

 volume, an account of the fish-guano manufactory at Concar- 

 neau in Finisterre, as well as some information about the fish- 

 manure of Norway. 



