MODE OF CURING SARDINES IN FRANrK. 125 



tails of this interesting French national fishery, but onr 

 object is to point out to the British public an example 

 which might be successfully followed, as to the furnishing 

 an additional supply of wholesome food botli for home 

 consumption and exportation. Large quantities are, of 

 course, sold fresh, and transmitted by rail and road to the 

 interior in this country, but the mode of curing has been 

 entirely neglected, excepting small quantities that are 

 smoked, and which are by no means very palatable. 



There are two methods of curing the sprat or sardine 

 in France. The first is that of packing them into barrels. 



Barrelled loose. — The sprats are first washed and cleaned 

 in the sea, they are then roosed and mixed with a due 

 proportion of salt, and are packed into barrels with a pro- 

 portion of salt between each layer ; in this state they may 

 be sent out for sale. 



Finessed barrels. — The system of pressure is by some 

 adopted, in this case, after the sprats have sufficiently 

 imbibed the salt in the barrel, they are taken out and again 

 washed in their pickle, and repacked in a circular manner 

 in the barrel ; and, the barrel being filled, on the top is 

 placed strong paper or fig leaves, and above all, a dunt or 

 dant, a piece of round wood nearly the size of the top of 

 the barrel, in which are pieces of wood to secure the beam 

 or bar which is applied for pressing the fish close down 

 into the casks, when the pickle and oil run out into a ma- 

 chine called a tineau ; when the pressure has reduced the 

 space occupied by the fish, the barrel is again filled up to 

 the top with more fish, and the cask headed up. Brittany 

 cured in 1853, 218,076,400 sprats, which required 3800 

 tons of salt, and calculating each barrel as containing 

 3000 sprats, the number of barrels cured must have been 

 72,992, and the fish cured yielded, from the pressure. 



