THE PICKLED HERRING TRADE. 465 



6. METHODS OF PRESERVING THE PISH. 



SALTING IN BULK AND IN BAKRELS Various methods have been adopted by different parties 

 in the same and different localities for salting the fish and stowing them in the hold of the vessel. 

 A common method, known to the fishermen as " salting in bulk," is often employed. By it the fish 

 are thrown upon the vessel's deck as they come from the water, and a quantity of salt is sprinkled 

 upon them, after which they are thoroughly stirred with large wooden shovels, made expressly for 

 the purpose, that the two may be thoroughly mixed. From 4 to 5 pecks of salt are required for 

 each barrel of fish. When properly salted the herring are shoveled into the vessel's hold, a wooden 

 shoot being usually arranged in the hatchway to carry them in any direction desired. They are 

 then shoveled against the bulkheads and sides of the hold until it has been completely filled, or 

 till a sufficient quantity have been secured. 



The "salters" are men detailed expressly for the work, and it is their duty to see that proper 

 care is taken in mixing the salt evenly among the fish, and that a sufficient quantity is used to 

 properly cure them. These frequently prefer to salt the fish in the hold, in which case the herring 

 are shoveled down the hatchway, a few at a time, and the salters add the requisite amount of salt 

 as the work goes on. The fish are then thrown to one side and stowed loose as before. 



The method of salting in bulk, although extensively adopted, is very crude, and the work is 

 generally done in a hurried and careless manner; the result being that the fish often reach the 

 market in poor condition, aud are sometimes even unfit for food. This more frequently occurs 

 with the fish taken at the Magdalens, where the fishermen are obliged to work very rapidly in 

 order to care for the fish as fast as they are secured. At Newfoundland and other places, however, 

 the catch is not so large, and the salters have ample to cure them properly. 



Even when carefully salted, the bulk herring, when transferred to barrels and covered with 

 brine, are said to be inferior, both in color and flavor, to those that have been put in pickle while 

 fresh ; for smoking purposes they are, however, as good as those prepared in other ways, and dur- 

 ing the height of the Magdalen trade the greater part of the bulk herring were sold to the smokers. 

 On account of the difficulty of making good pickled fish out of the bulk herring many of the ves- 

 sels were formerly provided with a quantity of barrels and hogsheads, which were arranged in the 

 bottom of the hold so that the fish would fall in and around them as the hold was being filled. 

 The barrels thus served to retain the moisture that drained from the fish above, and those con- 

 tained within were in this way kept constantly covered with pickle, and when the cargo was 

 landed they were sold as pickled fish, while the others were used for smoking. 



There are several advantages in the method of salting in bulk, the principal one being the 

 saving of the cost of the barrels required for holding the fish. Again, the quantity that a vessel 

 will carry is greatly increased by this method; for though the vessel maybe loaded "scupper 

 deep " in the water before starting, the moisture soon begins to drain from the fish, and can be 

 pumped out in sufficient quantities to lighten the vessel sufficiently for the voyage. Some time 

 is also saved on the voyage, as the fish can be handled so much more rapidly. 



Herring are also salted in barrels in the ordinary way, each package being filled with pickle 

 before it is stowed in the hold. This method has been frequently employed in the Magdalen fisheries, 

 but it is much more common among the fleet visiting Bonne Bay and the Bay of Islands. 



Nearly all of the herring brought by this fleet are known to the trade as "round herring"; 



that is, they are fish that have been salted just as they came from the water, without even being 



cut open. A few, however, more particularly of the Newfoundland fish, are cut or torn open and 



the gills and entrails are removed before salting. These are called " split," or gibbed, herring. The 



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