PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
483 
regulatious are rarely enforced. In Maine regulations were made from time to time 
beginning in 1821, affecting the smoking of herring, but in 1871 it was jirovided — 
Hereafter no inspection of smoked herring shall he required, but all smoked herring put up in 
boxes or casks for sale in this State shall be branded on the cask or box inclosing them with the first 
letter of the Christian name and the whole of the surname of the person putting up the same, and 
with the name of the State and the place where such person lives, and all such fish offered for sale or 
shipping not thus branded shall be forfeited, one-half to the use of the town where the offense is 
committed, and the other half to the person libeling the same. 
Early iu the present ceutury the price realized by the fishermen varied from $1 
to $1.25 per box, 18 inches long, 9 inches wide, and 7 inches deep, inside measurement. 
From 1830 to 1850 the average price was about $1.10 for “scaled herring,” 80 cents for 
“number ones,” and 35 to 40 cents for “number twos,” the size of the box being 17 
inches long, 8;^ inches wide, and G inches deep, measured on the inside. From that 
date the price decreased cpiite rapidly for a number of years, and fish of good quality 
often sold as low as 7 and 8 cents per box. Later, with the revival of trade, it again 
improved, until in 1880 it ranged between 12 and 25 cents, according to the quality 
of the fish, good scaled herring averaging fully 22 cents, while lower grades usually 
sold at 15 or 16 cents. The boxes in 1880 were usually 15^ inches long, inches wide, 
and 4 inches deep, inside measurement. Since 1880 the prices have decreased con- 
siderably. In 1894 medium-scaled herring sold for 9 cents, and No. 1 for about 0 cents. 
A choice method of packing smoked herring, introduced in 1878, has met with 
much favor. After the herring have been salted and smoked in the usual way, the 
skin, head, and viscera are removed and the bones extracted. The flesh is then 
packed eight to twelve in small wooden boxes with glass fronts or tied in bunches of 
about one dozen fish each, six of such bunches being packed in a neat wooden box, 
which also sometimes has a iiane of glass introduced iu one of the sides to render the 
contents visible without opening the box. By skinning the herring and placing them 
together their fiesh is brought in close contact, jireserving their inherent moisture 
and flavor, this effect being further increased by paeking them in a box. The fish 
also present a much neater appearance when offered for sale and are more attractive 
to customers. This process was protected by Letters Patent No. 207980, dated Sep- 
tember 10, 1878. 
Large quantities of foreign smoked herring are imported into the United States, 
approximating 4,000,000 pounds annually, worth about $100,000 — mostly from Nova 
Scotia and New Brunswick, though large quantities are received also from Newfound- 
land, Norway, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. The exports of smoked herring 
are eciual in quantity to the imports, the great bulk of them being sent to Haiti, and 
smaller quantities to Santo Domingo, Cuba, and other tropical countries. 
The following notes on the methods of smoking hard or red herring in Holland 
and iu England are furnished by Mr. Adolph Nielsen: 
SMOKING HERRING IN HOLLAND. 
The greater part of the herring are caught in the North Sea and salted round on hoard of the vessel 
in barrels. After they are brought to the siuoking-houses the barrels are opened and the herring put 
into large vessels to be steeped in fresh water. The length of time in which the herring are steeped 
depends upon the different markets for which they are prepared. For the local markets, Antwerp and 
Brussels, they are steeped for two days, while for the Italian markets they are steeped one day, 
and sometimes not steeped at all, but only washed. In order to liberate the herring as much as 
possil)le from scales they are stirred about several times during the day with a stirring pole. The 
herring which are salted heavy or have remained iu salt over the ordinary tim* aro first steeped one 
