f90 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III 



was ncu t(j tin in iii the employment In which they were about to engage, The Ashing commenced on the 

 S th of July, .mil ended on the 3rd ol September, 181 I , end the four boats won respectively 10V. 3f., 8SZ 8s., 

 // Bj . and 11 I * i hey were manned by (bur men each, m that they made, on an average, rather 

 more than 27/. a man. In 1815, the number of boats employed amounted to fifty, almost entirely manned 

 bj Sutherland men ; and the number of barrels caught and repacked exceeded *,' 00, chiefly gutted. In 

 18 7, thi> Ashen Rave employment to about 3,000 tenants, 17 coopers, and 130 women. In 1818, 70 

 omen, 700 men, 140 boats; and, in the pre s e nt year 1819], the quantity caught and cured 

 at Helmsdale amounts to no leu than 22J876 barrels, besides upwards of 100,000 »< hi and ling While 

 the herring fisher] i* 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," paased in its favour, lor the regulation of its herring fair, now 

 exhibits only the small number i>l lOSS) barrels. — See an Essay on the Migration and Food of the 

 M. rring, by J. F. Denovan, Esq., in the Fanner's Magazine (voL xxvi. p. 135.) See also art. Salmon, in 

 Pari in. Book VII. 



The <W 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 neighbourhood 

 of the Orkney and Shetland islands to Iceland "n the one hand, and to the coast of Norway on the other, 

 anil along the eastern and western shores of Scotland to the Flemish banks on the east, and the coast of 

 Ireland cm ihc west, may be considered as one great fishing domain, over which the different species of 

 the COd genus arc most plentifully dispersed, as arc 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 

 i ours cannot boast of 



The turbot fishery is, perhaps, that alone in which neither the Scotch nor the English are as 

 successful as the Dutch. The turbol 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 

 a.'van :e to the northward, and during the months of April and May, are found in great shoals on the 

 bank called the Broad Fourteen* Early in June, they have proceeded to the banks which surround the 

 small island Of Heligoland, oil' 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 kinds 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 recour-e 

 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 Land'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 

 15,1 00/. 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 are, in many parts, plentifully supplied with this 

 in nine insect, (qual in goodness to those in Norway. 



3879. The mackerel fishery is chiefly carried on on" the coast of Suffolk and other southern counties; 

 the season generally lasts about six weeks in May and June, and during which tune fish to the value of 

 10,1 i i ■/. or upwards, are caught oft' Suffolk alone. (County Report.) 



3880. 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. 



3881. The stickleback is caught in immense quantities in the Lynn river about once in seven years, 

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



3882. 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 lie for twenty or thirty days, during which time a vast 

 discharge 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 w ater, 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 60,6002. 



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 on most parts of the Hritish shores. 



I The oyster is to be found on most of the rocky shallows on the cast and south coasts of Britain and 

 Ireland. The most remarkable circumstance attending this fishery is the feeding or nursing of the 

 oysters, which is almost exclusively practised in Essex. It has been tried, it is said, in the mouths of the 

 Seine and some other rivers of France, without success. Ihe oysters are brought from the coast of 

 Hampshire, Dorset, and other maritime counties, even as far as Scotland, and laid in thebeds or lay'n.gs in 

 the creeks adjoining those rivers. The number of vessels immediately employed in thedredging for oysters 

 are about 200, from twelve to forty or fifty tons burden each, employing from 400 to 500 men and boys. 

 The quantity of oysters bred and taken in Essex, and consumed annually, mostly in London, is supposed 

 to amount to 14,000 or 15,000 bushels. 



Sect. II. Hirer Lake, and other Inland Fisheries. 



3885. The onh/ inland fishery of any importance is that of the salmon. Salmon fisheries, 

 Marshal observes, are " copious and constant sources of human food ; they rank next to 

 agriculture. They have, indeed, one advantage over every other internal produce : their 

 increase does not lessen other articles of human sustenance. The salmon does not prey 

 on the produce of the soil, nor does it owe its size and nutritive qualities to the destruc- 

 tion of its compatriot trilies. It leaves its native river at an early state of growth ; and, 

 going even naturalists knew not where, returns of ample size, and rich in human 

 nourishment; exposing itself in the narrowest streams, as if nature intended it as a 

 special boon to man. Ill every stage of savageness and civilisation, the salmon must 

 have been considered as a valuable benefaction to this country." This fish being rarely 

 caught, except in estuaries or rivers, may be considered, in a great degree, as private 

 property ; and it may therefore be presumed thai the fishery is conducted to the greatest 

 possible extent and advantage. From the extremity of the Highlands, and from the 



