Show I HOW HERRIXG ARE CURED Scaling time Fisli Saltiiiff ami Smoking Smok-ing Iackitir Pickling In Mr Parleys report of the fisheries of the bay of Fundy the manner of curing herring is thus described The fish are scaled by being washed in bushel baskets with a square bottom open like a coarse sieve the men stand I ing in the water up to their knees The best fish have very few scales and only half a bushel of them are taken in the basket at once they are then salted in large tubs the salt being stirred through them by hand the quantity used is half a bushel l of salt to two and a half barrels of fish which arc a tub full They lie inS in-S 11t twentyfour hours and are then washed in fresh water to prevent their becoming salt burnt after which they are strung on rods with their heads all lone l-one way and then hung up in the smoke house In Clements the smokehouses are usually thirty feet square with fourteen foot po ts and a high roof no fish hang nearer the fire than seven feet but the I most careful curers do not hang them I nearer than eight feet Rock maple is I used in smoking when it cannot be procured i 1 I pro-cured ash is used being considered next best The process of smoking usually occupies eight weeks and it requires the whole time of one person to watch the fire and to attend to the smoking in which much judgment and great care are I required The smoke is usually made up t at nightfall unless the weather is warm I i and wet during which time no fires are made i I In fine weather the smokehouses are I thrown open during the day to cool and the greatest care is taken all the time to keep down heat and to render the smoke I as cool as possible by numerous windows and openings After being smoked the I fish are packed in boxes eighteen inches long ten inches wide and eight inches deep measured on the inside and there should be twentyJour dozen fish in a box I I of prime herring If the fish are large and of the beet quality it requires some I Iv > m E pressure to get this number into a box The Digby herring are in some instances cured in pickle unsmoked and packed in half barrels I |