PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
427 
for preparing fish for those markets wliich exhibit a preference for lish iiaving such a 
iiavor. The staves and heads may be of white pine, wliite or red oak, spruce, poplar, 
or chestnut, and they are sent to the fishing ports either ready for use or, to economize 
I’reight, in shooks ready to be put together. The Bangor barrel has staves 28 inches 
ii! length and the heads 17 inches between the chimes, and is bound with 3 hoops on 
each bilge and the same number on eacli chime. In packing valuable fish, such as 
mackerel, much stouter barrels are necessary than when packing herring, for instance. 
Tiio average cost of the Bangor barrel used in the mackerel trade approximates 55 
cents, and the Sandusky barrel costs about 50 cents. 
REGULATIONS RESPECTING BRINE-SALTING FISH. 
With a view to maintaining the reputation of the output, and incidentally to pre- 
venting fraud on the consumers, statutes affecting the packing of brine-salted fish 
have been enacted in several of the States, especially in Maine, New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Ohio. The pickling of mackerel is regulated in Maine, New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, and Ehode Island. The laws of Connecticut attempt to regulate the 
pickling of shad. In Ohio it is required that all pickled fish be inspected except 
herring, mackerel, and shad; also in Chicago and some other large cities there are 
municipal regulations relative to the same matter. Few of the State or municipal 
regulations are strictly enforced; and since there are no national laws protecting 
inspected fish after leaving the jurisdiction of the State where packed, it frequently 
happens that fish inspected and uniformly graded according to the regulations of the 
State where prepared are repacked in other States and sold with short weights and 
under wrong grades, low-grade fish being sold for choice ones, short fish for Iniig, and 
even herring for mackerel, much to the injury of the trade. There is nothing to prevent 
mackerel, for instance, which has been pickled and inspected in accordance with the 
regulationsof Maine or Massachusetts, from being repacked end sold under false brands. 
A barrel of fish signifies 200 pounds of fish exclusive of pickle, but without proper 
inspection many dealers are disposed to place less than that weight of fish, adding brine 
to keep the gross weight of the barrel’s contents the same. The faulty grading of fish 
IS much more frequently practiced, fish improperly cured or those of small size being 
branded higher than the quality or size warrants. This is the principal reason why 
so large a proportion of the pickled herring sold in this country are of foreign 
importation; many dealers preferring to handle those cured and packed under careful 
foreign inspection, even though the cost be nearly twice as great, since the brand 
indicates exactly what they are buying. 
Inspection regulations are of very early origin, those in Massachusetts dating 
from 1651. They generally provide for inspectors, who are appointed by the governor 
or chosen by the towns in which they are to serve. There was an inspector-general in 
Maine prior to 1875, but the oftice was abolished that year, and at i)resent the governor 
is recpiired to ‘‘appoint, in jilaces where pickled fish are cured or ])acked for exporta- 
tion, one or more persons, skilled in the quality of the same, to be inspectors of fish, 
who shall hold their office for a term of five years, unless sooner removed by the gov- 
ernor and council.” 
The regulation in New Hampshire respecting the appointment of inspectors is 
almost identical Avith that of Massachusetts. The inspector-general is appointed 
by the governor, Avith the advice and consent of the council, for the term of five 
