Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1891 — SCALING HERRINGS. [ARTICLE]

SCALING HERRINGS.

The Work is Performed in a Somewhat Peculiar Manner. A peculiar feature of tho smoked herring industry in this country is tho method by which the fish ore sealed. Enormous quantities of them are captured in weirs and gill-nets and the catch thrown into boats. When a load has been secured the fisherman “treads them out” by walking briskly back and forth through the mass of squirming objects at the bottom of the boat. Tho motion of the fish upon each other and also the contact with the feet and leg* of the "treader” quickly removes the sonles. In tho course of half an hour a skillful operator will thus scale four or five hogsheads of the fish. Another method consists in using a piece of board about a foot long and four or five inches in width, which is securely fastened to a long handle. This is thrust into the center of the mass and moved briskly about until by continued stirring the scales are moved in an incredibly short time. The work must be done while the fish are fresh, as otherwise the scales become set and enu only be taken off with great difficulty, Caro is exercised in both processes, ns if not systematically done, many of the catch will be only partially sealed, and if stirred about or “trod out” for too long a time the flesh will be soft or bruised, in which case the catch will be less salable, and if the skiu is broken, absolutely worthless. After scaling they are washed and salted iu tubs, barrels or hogsheads; then strung on sticks, from twenty-five to thirty-five being placed on eaeh, according to their size. The next step consists in re-washing, to remove all the blood and dirt that has accumulated, and the strings are then laid on frames in the open-air to drain and also to harden and dry the gill-covers. This being accomplished they are taken to the smoke house, properly arranged, the fires started and the smoking begins. Several kinds of wood are used for this purpose in different countries, white birch being preferred iu France, while in England, Scotinud and Holland oak chips und sawdust are considered the best. In this country pine logs that have been soaked in salt water aro selected, as the salt renders tine wood less inflammable und it also gives off a greater volume of smoke. Some of the curers, when the smoking process is nearly completed, build a fire with-oak logs for tho purpose of giving u higher or brighter color to tho fish. As a matter of fact, however, the woods make little or no difference, ‘the chief idea being to get a kind that will burn slowly and at the same time yield a sufficient amount of smoke to cure the fish, and at the same time burn" so slowly that ■there is no possibility of scorching them. —[Detroit Free Press.