434 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



salting should be carefully done. As soon as the boats reach the harbor and as the fishing is 

 appointed to be carried ou after sunset they arrive very early in the morning the various crews 

 commence to carry their fish to the reception-troughs of the curers by whom they have been en- 

 gaged. A person in the interest of the curer checks the number of crans brought in, and sprinkles 

 the fish from time to time with considerable quantities of salt. As soon as a score or two of baskets 

 have been emptied, the gutters set earnestly to do their portion of the work, which is dirty and 

 disagreeable in the extreme. The gutters usually work in companies of about five one or two 

 gutting, one or two carrying, and another packing. Basketfuls of the fish, as soon as they are 

 gutted, are carried to the back of the yard and plunged into a large tub, there to be roused and 

 mixed up with salt; then the adroit and active packer seizes a handful and arranges them with 

 the greatest precision in a barrel, a handful of salt being thrown over each layer as it is put in, so 

 that in the short space of a few minutes the large barrel is crammed full with many hundred fish, 

 all gutted, roused, and packed, in a period of not more than ten minutes. As the fish settle down 

 in the barrel, more are added from day to day till it is thoroughly full and ready for the brand. 

 On the proper performance of these parts of the business the quality of the cured fish very much 

 depends." 



LAWS REGULATING HERRING CURE. Many of the European countries have laws describing 

 in detail the exact manner in which the herring shall be prepared, and great care is taken that 

 the fish shall be properly cured in every particular. In America, on the contrary, little care is 

 taken in the preparation of the fish, and though there are laws relating to the subject they refer 

 more to the quantity of fish which a package of a given size shall contain, and to the amount 

 of salt used in packing the fish, than to the quality of the fish. At one time the laws of all the 

 States having extensive herring fisheries required that all of the pickled herring should be 

 inspected before they were sent to market. A law to this effect is still in force in the States of 

 Maine and New Hampshire. According to section 7, chapter II, of the Laws of Maine for 1875 : 



" Every inspector who inspects pickled alewives or herring, packed whole or round, shall see 

 that they are struck with salt or pickle, and then put in good casks of the size and material 

 aforesaid, packed closely therein and well salted, and the casks filled with fish and salt, putting 

 no more salt with the fish than is necessary for their preservation ; and the inspector shall brand 

 all such casks with the name of the inspected fish as aforesaid, but in no case shall the inspector 

 brand the casks unless the fish contained therein shall have been packed and prepared under his 

 immediate supervision." 



Section 8 of chapter XI of the Revised Statutes of Maine for 1871 gives the following 

 description of the barrels in which fish are to be packed: 



"All tierces, barrels, or casks, used for the purpose of packing pickled fish, shall be made of 

 sound, well seasoned white oak, white ash, spruce, pine, or chestnut staves of rift timber, with 

 headings of either of such kinds of wood, sound, well planed, and seasoned, and the heads, if of 

 pine, free from sap ; the same to be well hooped with at least three strong hoops on each bilge, 

 and three also on each chime; the barrel staves to be 28 inches in length, and the heads to be 17 

 inches between the chimes, and made in a workmanlike manner to hold pickle, and branded on 

 the side near the bung with the name of the maker or owner thereof. The tierces shall contain 

 not less than 45 nor more than 46 gallons each, the barrels from 29 to 30 gallons each, and the 

 aliquot parts of a barrel in the same proportion." 



The laws of the State of Maine, as recently amended, do away with an inspector-general, but 

 require the secretary of state to appoint deputy inspectors in the various fishing towns, these to 

 receive their commission from him and to be obliged to report to him the quantity of fish inspected 



