480 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 
The pickliug and saltiug shed is supplied with wooden tanks for use in pickling the herring. 
These are from 7 to 8 feet long, 5 feet wide, and feet deep, having a capacity of about 4 hogsheads, 
or 20 barrels, of herring each. From 2 to 9 tanks are required in each salting shed. In many instances 
hogsheads are used instead of tanks. There is also a variety of other utensils, such as tubs, baskets, 
shovels, and “herring horses.” The latter consists of an oblong wooden frame having four legs, the 
sides extending far enough beyond the end to serve as handles. It is used to hang the herring on to 
dry after they are strung on the sticks and before putting them into the smokehouse. Its capacity is 
from 25 to 30 sticks of herring. The cost of the whole outfit for a smokehouse and salting shed varies 
from $50 to $500. * * * 
Herring utilized . — The herring utilized for smoking and salting are derived chiefly from the weirs 
in Passamaquoddy Bay and its tributary waters. In 1895 the quantity obtained from the American 
weirs in the bay for these purposes was 5,903 hogsheads, valued at $12,121, and from the Canadian 
weirs 5,571 hogsheads, which cost $20,036. The average value per hogshead of the former was $2, and 
of the latter about $3.60. This difference is explained in a measure by the fact that a large part of 
the American fish was smoked by the fishermen, who carried them to the smokehouses in their own 
boats, while those from the Canadian weirs were collected at the rate of $1 per hogshead. A consid- 
erable quantity of herring was also obtained from other sources. From Machias Bay there were 1,296 
hogsheads, costing $4,605; from Grand Manan, 935 hogsheads, $2,323; from the Magdalen Islands, 768 
hogsheads, $4,669, and from Newfoundland, 174 hogsheads, $1,740. The total quantity used was 
14,647 hogsheads, or 73,235 barrels, the cost of which, landed at the smokehouses, was $45,494. Of 
these, 12,148 hogsheads, costing $36,215, were smoked and packed in boxes, and 2,499 hogsheads, costing 
$9,279, were salted in barrels. The herring from Passamaquoddy Bay, Machias Bay, and Grand 
Manan are received in a fresh condition, while those from the Magdalen Islands and Newfoundland 
are cured on board the vessels and need no further saltiug after they arrive at the smokehouses. The 
Newfoundland herring are used largely in preparing the grade of smoked herring termed “bloaters,” 
but those from the Magdalen Islands do not serve that purpose so well and are generally either 
packed in barrels as round herring or smoked and packed in regular boxes lengthwise. 
Fielding . — When the fresh herring intended for smoking are landed at the salting sheds, they 
are immediately put into the pickling tanks, which have first been partially filled with a weak pickle. 
The pickle is made of salt water with about 1^ bushels of Liverijool salt or a smaller quantity of Cadiz 
or other coarse salt in each tank. The salt is stirred in the water until it is wholly dissolved. If the 
fish are poor the water is sometimes used without the salt being added. The quantity of fish which is 
at first put into the tank is generally from 2 to 3 hogsheads, or enough to be of sufficient weight to 
rest, or, as the fishermen term it, “ground” on the bottom. A light layer of salt, or about one-half 
Dushel, is then distributed over them, after which another layer of fish of from 1 to 2 barrels is put 
in. This is again covered with a layer of salt rather heavier than the first, being from 1 to bushels. 
The remainder of the fish necessary to fill the tank is then put in and covered with from 3 to 5 bushels 
of salt. Each tank when filled contains 4 hogsheads of fish, and the quantity of salt used on them 
varies from 6 to 9 bushels, according to their size and fatness and the condition of the weather. It is 
also necessary to have the greater i)art of the salt at the top of the tank, so it will not work down 
through the fish and lodge at the bottom without being dissolved. In that case the fish at the bottom 
are liable to become too salt and those at the top not salt enough. For smoking imrposes the fish are 
pickled in a round condition as they come from the water. When hogsheads are used instead of tanks 
the quantity of fish and salt in each layer is regulated to correspond with the capacity of the hogshead. 
The small herring are generally allowed to remain submerged in the j)ickle from 24 to 36 hours, 
and the larger ones, especially if they are very fat, about 48 hours, and sometimes a longer period. 
If the herring are small and not fat the length of time required for them to “strike” may not exceed 
from 12 to 15 hours. Fish will also absorb salt more readily in warm than in cold weather, and if 
they have been caught a few hours before being salted they do not require so long a time in the 
pickle as when immediately taken from the water. 
When the fish have been properly “struck” or salted, if the weather is fine, so as to afford them 
an opportunity to dry before being put in the smokehouse, they are taken out of the pickle; Init it 
sometimes happens that the weather is rainy, and they have to- remain in pickle much longer than 
would otherwise be necessary. As a result they become more or less oversalted. In such cases, when 
favorable weather returns, they are taken out and put in tubs of salt water to be freshened or “soaked 
out.” Newfoundland and Magdalen herring, which are heavily salted on board the vessel when 
caught, invariably require to be treated in this manner before being smoked. Generally about four 
tubs of water are used, which are in succession filled with fish. As soon as the last tub is filled the 
