Sprattus, so abundant on the English 

 coasts. 



It is now ten years since a room was 

 fitted up in a store in New York City for 

 the purpose of trying how close an imita- 

 tion of the French Sardine could be pro- 

 duced. This room was for many weeks 

 closed to all but the experimenter and the 

 two partners of the firm. The difficulty 

 of procuring suitable and sufficient ma- 

 terial for their purpose was overcome on 

 discovering that at Eastport, Me., a small 

 fish was used for fertilizing farm lands 

 which seemed to be what they had so long 

 and anxiously sought. The first canning- 

 factory was established in Eastport in 

 1876, and since then eighteen other fac- 

 tories have been started there, besides 

 eight at Lubec, three at Jonesport, two at 

 Robbinston, and one at each of half a 

 dozen other near-by places. 



To catch the fish, weirs are constructed, 

 built of piles driven where the water is 

 twenty feet deep, and the spaces between 

 interlaced with rails and brush. An open- 



