been filled. This may go on for several weeks, depending upon the supply of fish. After the house has been filled -and to fill one holding 20,000 herring requires about two weeks the herring have to be smoked for two or three weeks before they are ready for packing. Herring are packed in thin wooden boxes about 16 inches long, 8 inches wide and 4 inches deep.1 The price of the Maine pack of herring in 1905 and 1906 averaged between nine and ten cents a box. The value of herring smoked in Maine in 1906 was $317,480.2

The bloater herring industry is carried on principally at Gloucester and Boston. The fish used in this business come generally from Newfoundland, being brought to these ports usually in American vessels in a salted condition in bulk. These have to be soaked, strung on sticks, and dried much after the manner described for hard herring. Further processes in the smoking and preparing bloaters are described as follows:

"In order to 'bloat,' the herring must be thoroughly moist, and after they have commenced to dry in the smokehouse the heat must be increased. If they are permitted to hang 10 or 12 hours without heating they will not bloat, but will become hard herring. The smoking is continued from 22 to 6 days, when the fish are usually sufficiently cured. They are removed from the houses, allowed to cool for a few hours, and placed in boxes holding 50 or 100 fish each, the larger size being by far the most numerous. The average weight of 100 bloaters prepared from Newfoundland herring is about 40 pounds, whereas an equal quantity prepared from the Gulf of Maine fish weighs 25 to 35 pounds, according to their size and the extent of the

1 Ansley Hall, The Herring Industry of the Passamaquoddy Region, Maine.

2 29th An. Report, Com'r of Sea and Shore Fisheries, Maine, 1905 and 1906.

smoking. The Eastport bloaters weigh about 25 pounds per 100 fish, being smoked two or three days longer than the Boston bloaters, as they are intended to keep a greater length of time and in warmer climates. They are placed in boxes 181⁄2 inches long, 111⁄2 inches wide, and 71⁄2 inches deep, inside measurement. The thickness of the ends is generally % inch and of other parts % inch, and the cost of boxes approximates $12 per 100. The boxes at Boston, Gloucester, and Portland are usually considerably larger. One barrel of round fresh herring yields about 5 boxes of 100 bloaters each. Those smoked 22 days will keep usually 3 or 4 months under favorable conditions, while those smoked 5 or 6 days will keep until warm weather. Very few bloaters are sold after the month of May.

"The market for bloaters is principally in Boston, New York, Canada, and the West, and the average wholesale price for those prepared from Newfoundland salted herring is about $1.20 per 100 fish. The Boston-cured bloaters sold in 1859 at $1.25 to $1.50, and in 1865 at $1.80 per 100. In 1880, the value of the Eastport bloaters was about 95 cents, in 1893, it was 77 cents, and in 1898, is was about 80 cents per 100."1

The use of ice in preserving fish in markets has been a practice in this country for three-quarters of a century. It was not until about 1840 that ice was carried in vessels to preserve the fish until market was reached. At first, the method employed was the use of cooling rooms in which the fish were stored. In 1846, it became customary to crush the ice and mix it with the fish. Within the last forty years the practice of carrying ice in vessels that secure cargoes of fresh fish has developed greatly. Ice is now carried by vessels engaged in taking cod, haddock, hali

1 Preservation of Fishery Products by Smoking, Chas. H. Stevenson.

but, bluefish and mackerel. The fresh haddocker takes from ten to twenty tons of ice in her houses, the fresh halibuter requiring about ten tons more. In each case the ice is chiseled fine before being used. Halibut are laid in the ice pens one upon each other, the ice being placed in the interior parts of the fish after the viscera have been removed. No ice is placed between the layers of halibut as it tends to injure the flesh of the fish by pressing into it. The other fish that are iced at sea are placed on layers of ice in the ice bins and other layers of ice are sprinkled on top. In case of the mackerel where the port is near the fish are packed in ice in barrels for convenience in handling.

The method of the Newfoundland herring industry is somewhat different. The herring are frozen in the open air usually, on beaches or on platforms made for the purpose. After the fish have frozen solid they are placed in the hold of the vessel. Across the forward part of the hold a partition is built to keep out the heat from the forecastle. The herring are dumped into the hold in bulk and remain frozen until the vessel reaches its destination, Gloucester, Boston, New York or Philadelphia. Occasionally the cabin walls are covered over with canvas or boards to protect them from injury, and the cabin is filled with the frozen fish.

The demand for frozen herring in the cod and other ground fisheries has led to the erection of several freezing houses along the New England coast. These are located at Gloucester, Provincetown, Boothbay Harbor and North Truro, and have a capacity of about 15,000 barrels of frozen fish. The shipment of fish from seaports inland is by the usual method of refrigerator cars, being little different from the methods of shipping other kinds of fresh foods that require low temperature for preservation.

For securing herring and squid for bait from Newfoundland, vessels have been fitted out with freezing plants aboard; but it is the general rule to let Nature wait upon the fisherman in the freezing of fish.

The method of catching lobsters is by means of pots. These are made of laths nailed to end hoops about twenty inches across. The laths are apart enough to allow the water to pass in and out readily. Across each end is stretched a funnel-shaped piece of netting pointing inside. The inner extremity of the netting is fastened to a small hoop about five inches in diameter. Stones or other weight are placed inside, a line is attached to the outside, and the fisherman lets the car sink to the bottom on the fishing grounds. A light buoy is attached to the rope to enable the fisherman to locate his pot. Within the pot and midway between the ends of the two pieces of netting the bait is secured. As the lobster moves about in search of food it is attracted by the bait, which is usually the heads of cod, haddock, or some other fish. The lobster enters by the end of the pot, passes along the netting and enters the pot through the hole that has been left for the purpose. Once inside the pot the chances are very much against his getting out again.

Lobster pots are usually pulled once a day. If any lobsters are within they are removed, the pot is rebaited, and again allowed to sink to bottom. If the lobsters are not sold immediately they are placed in lobster cars. These are floating, box-like enclosures, allowing free circulation of water and capable of holding a large number of lobsters. In some instances artificial enclosures for retaining lobsters have been made by building a dam across a narrow body of water. When the collecting boat of the fish dealer or the cannery comes to collect the lobsters, they are bailed out of the car or enlosure by means of dip nets.

The digging of clams and preparing them for market is laborious work, often carried on during the severest days of winter. The digger provides himself with a hoe and several "rollers," the latter being long oblong baskets usually made of laths placed far enough apart to allow the water to pass in and out during the process of washing the mud from the clams. A good clam digger can dig from 8 to 10 bushels at a tide; occasionally one is found who can dig under the best of conditions from 12 to 15 bushels. As the clams are dug they are picked up and placed in the rollers. The digger regulates his place of digging by the tide, usually following close to the water as it recedes and keeping just in advance of the incoming tide. Clams are found in greater numbers and larger size near the low water mark.

On the coast of Maine, where soft clams are more abundant, the digging is carried on in the late fall and winter. The fishermen are those who are engaged in the shore fisheries during the warmer months. Many others also engage in this work in winter, especially the farmers whose lands border on the shore. Small houses are constructed on the banks of the shore just out of reach of the highest tides. To this place the clams are removed after being dug, to be placed in barrels, if shipped in the shell, or to be shucked if shipped for bait. While the tide is up the fishermen attend to the shucking of the clams and getting them ready for market. Frequently the long winter evenings are employed in removing the clams from their shells. In that event, the kitchen of the fisherman becomes the seat of action, where more comfortable quarters and perhaps assistance from the members of the family make the work easier and less prosaic.