124 MODE OF CURING SAltDINES IN FRANCE. 



the frauds, blunders, aud ignorance of curers. We admit 

 that the name of the honest curer might go far to secure 

 quality in some cases, but there are so many circumstances 

 connected with curing herrings, that we do not know any 

 security sufficiently strong in the most honest curer that 

 would guarantee to the buyer that perfection of qualit}^ 

 that is obtainable by our fishery laws. 



MODE OF CURING SARDINES IN FRANCE. 



Although we have proved that the sprat or garvie is a 

 distinct fish from the young herring, still, as some con- 

 sider it is the young of the herring, and as some young 

 herrings may be used in making sardines, we do not 

 hesitate to give an account of the mode of curing it on 

 the French coast, under the name of sardine, as it be- 

 comes, under the judicious and careful management of the 

 industrious inhabitants of the French sea coasts, one of 

 the most useful and wholesome of the productions of the 

 sea. 



Many of the inhabitants of this country are ignorant 

 that at the principal locality where the sprat is fished on 

 the coasts of Brittany, 2500 boats of 9500 tons, manned by 

 11,000 mariners, are employed in this fishery; that each 

 boat expends on an average fifteen barrels of the roe of 

 the cod and mackerel, thrown into the sea for the purpose 

 of attracting the fish to the nets, at an expense of about 

 £2 per barrel of 2^ cwt. ; and that the roes, cured in salt, 

 are principally imported from Norway, at an expense of 

 about £80,000 annually. This roe is considered indispens- 

 able ; as various substitutes have been used to attract 

 the fish to the nets, but unsuccessfull3^ 



We could have given many interestiug statistical de- 



