564 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



the number of barrels caught and repacked, exceeded 4,000, chiefly gutted- In 1817, 

 this fishery gave employment to about 3,000 tenants, 17 coopers, and ISO women. In 

 1818, 70 coopers, 520 women, 700 men, 140 boats; and, in the present year (1 Si 9), 

 the quantity caught and cured at Helmsdale, amounts to no less than 22,876 barrels, 

 besides upwards of 100,000 cod and ling. While the herring fishery is making these 

 rapid strides in the Highlands of Scotland, the ancient town of North Yarmouth, which 

 owes its existence to the herring fishery, and in the time of Edward III. had an act 

 usually called " The statute of herrings," passed in its favor, for the regulation of its 

 herring fair, now exhibits only the small number of 1039 barrels. 



S597. The cod or white fishery, including haddocks, whitings, ling, skate, halibut, 

 flounders, &c. may be reckoned next in importance to the herring fishery. The whole 

 extent of sea, from the neighborhood of the Orkney and Shetland islands, to Iceland on 

 tiie one hand, and to the coast of Norway on the other, and along the eastern and western 

 shores of Scotland, to the Flemish banks on the east, and the coast of Ireland on the 

 west, may be considered as one great fishing domain, over which the diflferent species of 

 the cod genus are most plentifully dispersed ; as are also turbot, skates, soles, haddocks, 

 and whitings. These fish, which constitute collectively what is usually called the white 

 fishery, surround, as it were, the whole of North Britain, and give to that portion of the 

 united kingdom advantages which its southern neighbors cannot boast of. 



3598. The turbot fishery is, perhaps, that alone which neither the Scotch nor the 

 English follow up with equal success as the Dutch. The turbot fishery begins about 

 the end of March, when the Dutch fishermen assemble a few leagues to the south of 

 Scheveling. As the warm weather approaches, the fish gradually advance to the north- 

 ward, and, during the months of April and May, are found in great shoals on the bank 

 called the Broad Fourteens. Early in June, they have proceeded to the banks which 

 surround the small islandof Heligoland, off the mouth of the Elbe, where the fishery 

 continues to the middle of August, when it terminates for the year. The mode of taking 

 turbot is as follows : at the beginning of the season, the drag net is used, which, being 

 drawn along the banks, brings up various kind of flat fish, as soles, plaice, thornbacks, and 

 turbots ; but, when the weather has driven the fish into deeper water, and upon banks of 

 a rougher surface, where the drag net is no longer practicable, the fishermen have then 

 recourse to the hook and line. Each line extends from one to nearly three miles in 

 length, and is armed with six, seven, or eight hundred hooks, fixed to at a distance of 

 several yards from each other. To keep these long lines properly stretched, and prevent 

 their being carried away by the tide, heavy masses of lead in some places, and small 

 anchors in others, are attached to them. The hooks are baited with the common smelt, 

 and a small fish resembling the eel, called the gore bill. Though very considerable 

 quantities of this fish are now taken in various parts of our own coasts, from the Orkneys 

 to the I^and's End, yet a preference is given, in the London market, to those caught by 

 the Dutch, who are supposed to have drawn not less than 80,000/. a year, for the supply 

 of this market alone ; and the Danes from 12,000/. to 15,000/. a year, for sauce to this 

 luxury of the table, extracted from about one million of lobsters, taken on the rocky 

 shores of Norway ; though our own shores arc, in many parts, plentifully supplied with 

 this marine insect, equal in goodness to those in Norway. 



3599. The mackerel fishery is chiefly carried on off the coast of Suffolk and other 

 southern counties ; the season generally lasts about six weeks in May and June, and 

 during which time fish to the value of 10,000/. or upwards, are caught off Suffolk alone. 

 (^County Report.) 



3600. Soles, gurnets, John dories, the red mullet, and other species, are also caught off 

 the southern coasts, and when the catch is greater than can be disposed of, they are salted 

 and dried. 



3601 . The stickle back is caught in immense quantities in the Lynn river about once in 

 seven years, and is purchased for manure at the rate of 6d. or 8d. a bushel. 



3602. The pilchard fishery is carried on extensively on the coast of Cornwall. 

 Enormous multitudes of those fish are taken on the coast of Devonshire as well 

 as Cornwall, between the months of July and September inclusive, when the whole line 

 of coast presents a scene of bustle and activity. The fish for foreign export and winter 

 consumption are laid upon shore in large stacks or piles, with layers of salt between each 

 row ; here they are suffered to lay for twenty or thirty days, during which time a vast dis- 

 charge of pickle mixed with blood and oil takes place, all of which is carefully caught in 

 pits and preserved for manure, which is eagerly purchased by the farmer and carried 

 away in casks. It is said that every pilchard will dress and richly manure one square 

 foot of ground. The fish are then carefully washed with sea water, dried and packed in 

 hogsheads, in which state they are sent abroad. The average value of pilchards taken in 

 one year in Cornwall is supposed to be from 50,000 to 60,000/. 



3603. Lobsters, crabs, crawfish, shrimps, prawns, &c are caught generally on the south 

 and east coast, but especially on the south and in the channel. The Scilly islands and the 

 Land's End abound in lobsters, and crabs are to be found in most parts of the British shores. 



