14 THE president's ADDRESS. 



tion of Mr. Laughrin, an Associate of the Institution, whose 

 house at Polperro we visited in our last summer's excursion, 

 and whose collection of Crustacea, which was much admired, 

 has nothing to equal it in the exhibition. The Cornishmen at 

 the exhibition have shared the character, which they all received, 

 of being a most exemplary and steady set of men. Wearing 

 on their breasts the well-known Cornish badge — worked by a 

 lady's hand — they were much noticed, and always spoken of in 

 terms of praise. You may ask what advantage they have 

 derived from this exhibition, and if I think it will be of any use 

 to the Cornish Fishery. Well, I must confess my inability to 

 give a practical answer to that question. Even a practical 

 fisherman might well be bewildered by the multitude of objects 

 exposed to view in that vast building, and I could quite 

 sympathise with one, who, when I asked him what he 

 thought of what he had seen, said " Well, I reckon some 

 of us will be in the asylum when we get back." The real 

 benefit of the exhibition will not be known until the judges 

 have decided on the merits of the various exhibits. But there 

 are one or two of these which occur to me as suggestive. In 

 the Dutch department there is an exhibit of nets, cured in a 

 particular way, and hung up according to the number of years 

 in which they had been worked, and, I believe, practical men 

 like Mr. Laughrin, seem to think that a hint as to the curing of 

 our Seines might be gained here, and that instead of " barking" 

 the Seines only with catechu, they should be oiled and dried 

 before being "barked," and that the additional expense would 

 be recouped by the length of time the nets would last. I know 

 oiling is adopted with regard to the smaller nets in the east of 

 the county, but not to those which are subsequently barked. 

 An improvement might also be made in curing and packing the 

 fish. In Cornwall the system has been simply to pack the fish 

 dry, with layers of salt between, and the oil which exudes runs 

 down over the lower ones, and makes them what is called 

 "rusty." But in Spain, after carefully packing them, they are 

 soaked in kieves of salt and water for three weeks, the strength 

 of the brine necessary for the purpose, being tested by floating 

 a potatoe in it. The fish are then taken out in baskets and 

 washed again in kieves filled with water sufiiciently salt not to 

 wash out the brine, and they are then prepared for the market. 



I 



