THE FRENCH SARDINE INDUSTRY. 
9 
bought in Norway a certain number of barrels of this rogue, to which they gave this last treatment, 
and that they sold it afterwards to advantage in barrels of oak wood under the name of rogue of 
Holland fish. In Norway use is not made of Portuguese or Spanish salt, but of French salt; that of 
Croisic or of lie de Re seems to possess the desirable qualities. 
The preparation of the rogue, according to the two processes which have just been mentioned, is 
susceptible of improvement. It has been improved in Norway, especially since the very much higher 
price obtained in the markets of France has stimulated the activity of fishermen; for it must not be 
supposed, because the importation of rogue into Brittany has diminished, that less rogue is manufac- 
tured at Loffoden. It has simply found another market in Biscaye and in Galicia; but its importation 
into Brittany would very soon be resumed if French trade were not promptly supplying our wants in 
this direction. 
The proportion of salt to rogue is as one. to four, 25 kilograms of salt sufficing for 100 kilograms 
of rogue. 
The method of improving this substance consists particularly in ridding it of all fatty and muci- 
laginous parts and in rejecting the envelope of the eggs, over the length of which are spread a number 
of blood vessels, which render it all the more susceptible of fermentation, since salt has little effect on 
them. It is important to preserve the eggs from contact with the air, which gives them a yellowish-red 
tint, especially if the temperature is high. Fine salt is more suitable than coarse salt, and marine salt 
should be preferred to mineral salt. Cod eggs derived from summer fishing require more salt than 
those from the winter fishing, decomposition being less active in winter than in summer. It is nec- 
essary to exclude from salting all rogue of fish too ripe; the rogue has not the necessary consistency 
when the eggs are about to be extruded. It is what the Norwegians call blode rami, soft rogue. 
The barrel should be hermetically closed except a hole in each end, one to give passage to the 
brine, the other to let the gas freely escape. There should be no space between the upper end of 
the barrel and the rogue, which can easily occur if the barrel is closed only several days after it is 
filled. As much as the arrangement of the building permits, the barrels should be sheltered from 
dampness. 
By taking these precautions one is sure to prepare rogue superior to that which the Norwegians 
put on the market, especially if the quantity of salt employed has been calculated, according to its more 
or less penetrating qualities, as new salt or old salt. 
In the respective interests of the cod and sardine fishermen, it would perhaps be well to make 
use only of barrels of a uniform gage; but this is a matter which could be settled later. 
Finally, the French fishermen ought to prepare the rogue with all possible care. It is the best 
means of assuring sale, of obtaining preference in the markets of Brittany, and of having no longer to 
fear there foreign competition. 
In the ports in which mackerel fishing is conducted the rogue of this fish can be prepared in the 
same manner as that of the cod, and is in fact so prepared in some of them. In applying to the prep- 
aration of the eggs of the mackerel the simple and easy methods indicated for the eggs of the cod, both 
will be improved in the same degree; they can very soon supply the place of each other and maintain 
the equilibrium between the needs and resources of each year. The union of their respective products 
will then free the sardine fishery from the tribute which it has paid to foreigners, a tribute which they 
themselves are no doubt astonished at receiving for so long a time. 
In an article on “The Sardine Industry in Vendee ” 1 Dr. Marcel Baudouin has 
the following references to bait: 
The rogue or r6sure is that which serves as bait for taking the sardine on the coast of the ocean, 
while in the Mediterranean no use is made of it. The rogues are called natural or artificial. The 
natural rogue, the most prized, is of a very high price. 
Since it is necessary to employ large quantities, it can easily be conceived that an attempt would 
be made to substitute other substances; whence the invention of artificial rogues, which are manufac- 
tured especially in Brittany. In Vendee these artificial rogues are little employed. Some fishermen 
sometimes prefer to them bait yet more simple and common, bran incompletely sifted, the product of 
the flour mill, of which the cost price is almost nothing (it has been employed at Saint-Gilles recently), 
1 Revue des Sciences Naturelles de l’Ouest, 1893. 
