PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
443 
with sufficient salt, in the same barrels, and supplied with new, strong pickle made of clean salt. 
The barrels should be full-branded and furnished with a 1-inch wide iron hoop on each end. 
Lozenge Brand: This brand is used for herring which formerly have been bung-packed and 
branded but afterwards repacked in the same way as is reciuired in order to obtain the repacked 
brand. The lozenge is branded just below the crown brand. In case new barrels are employed, they 
are branded with the crown brand and the lozenge in the same way. 
THE DUTCH CUKE OE HERKING. 
The most of the Dutch herring are caught at sea in drift-nets and cured on board of the vessels. 
If there is a chance, the dressing (gibbing and cutting) takes x)lace according as the nets are hauled 
on board and the herring x^icked out of them. The Dutch way of gibbing and cutting herring is about 
the same as the Scotch; the only difference is that the crown gut is allowed to remain in the herring 
and it is considered that the fat which is attached to this gives the herring a nice flavor. After the 
knife is put through the throat the cut is at once made uxi toward the pectoral fins; thus the opening 
is made smaller than in the Scotch herring. 
According as the herrings are dressed they are sorted in baskets, and from these about 200 at a 
time are put into large trays filled with fine Lisbon or St. Ybes salt and rolled in this salt. After 
the herring is carefully and well rolled in the salt it is packed in barrels, back down, the same way 
as the Scotch, with Lisbon salt sprinkled on the top of each layer of fish. When the whole catch is 
salted down a bucket of Mood-jncMe (made of sea-water and the intestines from the dressing) is xuit 
over the herring, and the barrels headed and put down in the vessel’s hold. 
The object of heading up the barrels so soon is to prevent the herring from being alTected by 
the air. In this state the barrels remain* for from six to ten days, when they are taken uxi and 
filled with herring of the same packing, after the pickle is first drawn. This filling or sea-packing is 
pretty compact, and it takes about four barrels to fill three of them. After the barrels are filled, the 
original pickle, after being strained, is put over the herring, and the barrels headed np and blown, 
and if found tight, put back into the hold of the vessel. It is considered of importance not to under- 
take the filling of the barrels too early, as the herring in such cases will be shriveled; but, on the 
other hand, it should not be performed too late, becaiiso if so the herrings, by being tossed about in 
the pickle while the vessel is rolling in the sea, lose a great deal of their scales. After the vessels 
arrive home, the barrels are again filled with herring and suxiplied with the original pickle. In this 
last filling, it is generally estimated that thirteen barrels of herring in a fit state for shipment are 
obtained from fourteen sea-xiacked barrels. A large quantity of herring is also rex)acked in small 
kegs — one-sixteenth XJart of a barrel — and containing from 45 to 50 herrings. This is esx)ecially for 
the American markets. A smaller quantity is also packed in half-barrels, but these do not take very 
well. A Dutch barrel of full, selected herring, with milt and roe, contains about 800 herrings, which 
weigh from 110 to 115 kilograms (242.2 to 254.6 pounds) net, exclusive of salt and pickle. 
Dutch herrings are sorted, according to the development of the sexual organs, in four qualities : 
Full herring (vol herring, branded VOL) ; matties (maatjis, In-anded M) ; spent herring (Ijlen, branded 
IJ or IJLE), and herring which have recently sxjawned (Ruit, branded KZ). Besides, herrings which 
have not been x^acked before the day after they were caught are branded O. Each of the first three 
brands are again sorted in three or more qualities, and branded No. 1, 2, and 3. All herring which on 
account of so large a catch could not be cured the same day, but had to be left over a night before 
they were packed, together with torn bellies, or chafed herring, are assorted according to quality, as 
No. 3, while all herring in good condition and free from faults, as No. 1 and No. 2, according to quality 
and treatment. Distinction is also made between herring caught in the open sea, near the coast, and 
in the Zuider Sea; and the barrels are generally furnished with a mark signifying the X)laco and the 
year in which the herrings were caught. Before the official system of culling was abolished, in the 
year 1878, this was branded on the bilge of the barrels (or if the herring were x^acked in smaller 
packages on the most convenient xilace) by the culler in such manner that a royal crown was Ijranded 
in the middle, and the other directions in letters on either side of the crown. 
THE NORWEGIAN CURE OF HERRING. 
The largest quantity of herring in Norway is caught in the fjords by seines, and kept barred 
until what food the herring may contain is worked out in the natural way before they are taken ux), 
dressed, and salted. As a rule the herring are salted in the vicinity of the X'laces where they are 
caught, so that they can be put in salt almost alive, which is of the utmost importance in order 
to obtain a good article. In this way they have an advantage over the Scotch, who have to go far 
