448 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
excellence of the lish cun never he restored. There cun he no doubt that the great hulk of the injury 
sustained by the herring of the Maritime Provinces is caused in this way ; and if this can he avoided 
in the future by the adoption of some feasible inexpensive measures to protect the herring from the 
sun, from the time of catch to the time of shipment, a great point will he gained and much done to 
redeem the character of the Canadian herrings. The next step in the curing process is the “roosing" 
of the herring after gutting and the proper salting of the fish when being packed. Should it happen 
that the preliminary salting can not he elfected before delivery, then the herring should he well 
sprinkled with salt during delivery. The western consumer is about tired of eating herrings, out of 
which all excellence has been extracted by soaking in w'ater and oversalting, and if these western 
markets are to be retained the quality of the fish must, he improved, and that at once. 
(6) Gutlin(j . — That we consider the Scotch mode of gutting to he as good as any for all commer- 
cial purposes, and all that can be desired when properly carried out and the curing properly attended 
to. In Scotland the early herrings are very fat, and are not branded. These are the herrings w'hich 
are in such request by the wealthy families of Russia, and they are hurried over to Stettin for imme- 
diate sale and use. A fish-curer told us that some of these herrings sold in June, 1889, for £10 sterling 
($50) per barrel. There is no material diiference in the mode of curing these herrings. In Canada, 
however, it appears that in the case of fat herrings caught in July and August special treatment 
has been found necessary. Mr. Gordon, of Pictou, who has had much experience in the herring 
business in Scotland and in Nova Scotia, says : 
“I beg to advert to the only additional detail, which, in my experience, I have discovered as 
ajiplicahle to the perfect cure of herrings in the months of .July and August, on the coasts of Nova 
Scotia. Having engaged on my own account in a sailing vessel trading on- the coast of Nova Scotia 
and Cape Breton, and provided with salt and barrels, I preferred purchasing the herrings in their 
green state, and cured a few barrels after the Scotch manner. On examination of the fish after being 
struck, I discovered an incipient taint along the backbone of the fish, which would increase with 
age, so as to render them unsuitable for a_ distant market in a tropical climate. I came to the 
conclusion that the taint was owdng to excess of temperature here over that common on the Scottish 
coasts, and besides the herrings are larger and fatter in the months of July and August on this coast 
than on the coast of Scotland. Thereafter I ripped with a sharp knife the belly of the fish, and 
filled the belly with salt, and immediately packed them in tight barrels, with one bushel of Liverpool 
salt to each barrel, and protected the barrels from sun and rain.” 
Another gentleman, referring to the same subject, says: “Herrings should be all opened with a 
knife and filled with salt ; otherwise they can not be properly cured.” This latter statement, as apply- 
ing to all herrings, seems rather general. Mr. Gordon only recommends this treatment in the case 
of herrings caught in .JhIj^ and August on the coast of Nova Scotia, when the fish are very fat. Even 
then it can hardly be possible that the belly of every herring need he filled with salt. To fill a herring 
with salt must effectually destroy the fiavor of the herring and leave it as innutritions as a piece of 
basswood. It may be, however, that some of these July and August herrings may be utilized for the 
manufacture of kippered herrings. In October, 1889, a very fine and well-fiavored kipper, said to 
come from Baltimore, U. S., was for sale in Toronto at high prices. It was very fat. The ^‘ciscoes” 
of Lake Ontario are very fat, fully one-fourth or one-third oil, yet they make most delicious kippers, 
are in great demand, and sell at high jirices. The “ciscoe” is a herring and is taken in deep water 
in the fall of the year. Many of them are put up as bloaters. 
All of this shows how necessary it is that some one or more competent men, experts, technically 
and practically, in all pertaining to the classification of herring, should fully investigate all the 
different kinds of herrings on onr Atlantic coasts, and decide upon the different modes of cure adapted 
to special kinds of herrings in special localities and at special seasons of the year. 
(7) Bound or ungutted herrings . — That between the mode above recommended by Mr. Gordon and 
the mode of putting up round or ungutted herrings there must exist many degrees of difference. 
We have already referred to ungutted herring, and to the fact that the Scotch curers strongly disap- 
prove of packing ungutted herring, and expressed their surprise that any people of the present day 
W'ould waste salt and time for such a purpose. In the case of the best packed herrings, if a stave 
breaks and the brine runs oti', the herrings undergo very serious deterioration, but in the case of 
ungutted herrings, under similar circumstances, total destruction of the contents of the barrel would 
take place from the setting free of the elements of decomposition contained in the ungutted herring 
theretofore held in check by the preservative qualities of the salt and pickle. Round or ungutted 
herrings put on the market in any quantitj^ can only do harm by damaging the character of the whole 
catch of any given locality. We therefore consider the putting up of all such herring for commercial 
purposes should be strictly forbidden. 
