THE HERRING FISHING INDUSTRY 65 



The fish are first of all dry-salted in concrete tanks about 

 10 ft. square and 6 ft. deep, arranged under the floor of 

 the curing house. Fresh fish and salt are simply thrown 

 in and mixed up, and left to develop their own pickle. 



Generally speaking, 1 ton of salt is used to 10 crans 

 of herrings, and each tank will hold from 20 to 30 crans 

 of the fish. The fish should be left in these salting 

 tanks for five days at least ; sometimes, of course, they are 

 left for months, according to the trade, in which case the 

 tanks practically serve as storage tanks for the salted 

 fish. The fish are removed from the tank as required, 

 washed, and put on " speets " and smoked. A 

 " speet " is a wooden rod about 3 ft. 6 ins. long and 

 pointed at one end. The fish are threaded on the speet 

 through the gill openings and mouth, each speet holding 

 from 20 to 30 fish. The speets are then stacked horizon- 

 tally on racks in the smoke house " loves " (lofts), about 

 6 ins. apart and about 12 ins. above each other, until 

 the smoke house is filled from the roof to within a few 

 feet of the floor. When the smoke-house is filled, fires 

 are lighted on the floor. Generally, the fuel used is 

 oak turnings, shavings, and sawdust. This material 

 burns quickly, and gives a very resinous smoke which 

 not only dries the fish, but also permeates it thoroughly. 



The rate of curing and the character of the finished 

 product depend upon the temperature of the smoke, 

 and the proportion of antiseptic resinous materials in 

 it. When the oak or other suitable hard wood 

 fuel is in the form of turnings or dust it burns quickly, 

 and thus produces a fairly hot smoke, containing anti- 

 septic substances for example, guaiacol and creosol. 

 Such a smoke will cure the fish quickly. 



If oak billets or logs are used they burn compara- 

 tively slowly. The smoke, therefore, is not so hot and, 

 since slow combustion in this case probably means 



