POPULAR SCIENCE! REVIEW. 
314 
The seining method seems to have created a good deal of 
jealousy among the drift-net fishers., and numerous have been 
the memorials and petitions presented to Parliament with a 
view to the suppression of this trawling system, as it has been 
improperly designated. We have carefully examined the evi- 
dence on this matter, laid before the late Royal Commission, and 
we can see no possibility of arriving at any conclusion other 
than that come to by Commissioners Huxley, Playfair, and 
Maxwell; viz., that the seining system is a fair and uninjurious 
one, and that it should by no means be trammelled by repres- 
sive legislation. We are sorry to see that a very eminent 
authority holds an opposite opinion; for, in this country at 
least, the “ What's in a name ? ” doctrine has very little 
weight, and we do not desire to see an honest form of fishing 
suppressed, a contingency which might arise were others to set 
their faces against it. Let us also say we have a hope, that the 
late report will do much to remove the stigma which has so long 
been imprinted upon this important branch of our fisheries. 
Viewed as an article of food, herrings may be said to be of 
four kinds. We have the fresh herring, the salt herring, the 
red or smoked herring, and the bloater. These, with the ex- 
ception of the first, which is simply the herring in its unpre- 
pared state, are produced by various modes of “ curing.” In 
the preparation of salt herrings for the market, a good deal of 
routine has necessarily to be gone through before the crown- 
brand is affixed to the barrels; but in the main the process is 
as follows : — The fish having been conveyed to a convenient 
spot, they are in the first instance gutted ; that is to say, the 
gills and digestive canal are removed by means of a sharp- 
bladed knife. They are then sprinkled with salt, and are 
ready for the barrel. In the bottom of the latter is placed a 
stratum of salt, and upon this is laid a stratum of herrings 
closely packed with their sides upwards ; then follow alternate 
layers of salt and herrings till the barrel is full. Having been 
allowed to remain in this condition for some few days, the 
barrel on examination is found to contain a quantity of pickle 
in which the herrings are seen floating. The supernatant 
liquor is now poured off, an additional number of herrings, 
and a superficial stratum of salt are placed in the barrel, which 
is then closed and is ready for branding. The branding process 
ratus composed of basket-work and is used on some of the Scotch rivers. 
The latter is adopted in Norway ; the herrings are “inclosed in the bays or 
creeks, by means of the net being stretched across from side to side ; thus 
inclosing th'e fish so as to prevent its egress. They are then caught by means 
of smaller drag-nets.” See the “ Report on the Herring Fishery of Norway,” 
by Mr. Crowe, Her Majesty’s Consul-general at Christiania. 
