SARDINES. The sardine fishery is an industry which has long played a conspicuous part in the prosperity of the coast pop ulation of France. Though of less importance than it once was, it still gives employment to not less than 2,500 boats of seven or eight tons each, manned by about 30,000 people, while the pre servation of the fish affords work for at least an equal number of the population. The seat of the industry is in the department of Finnisterre, on the coast of Brittany. The boats are twenty to twenty-five feet long, of great breadth, flat in the stern, but raised and pointed at the prow, which gives them great speed. The fish are caught in nets made of very fine cord, with meshes of such size that the sardine is caught by the gills. The upper part is floated with corks, which serve to maintain the vertical position of the net. In the sardine fishery, the bait, which is called the rogue, plays the principal part. It is a kind of caviare, made from the eggs of the cod preserved in brine, 35,000 barrels of which, representing a value of $350,000, are annually imported from Norway. If the bait causes the sardines to rise, a few emerald green flashes appear in the waves, when the fishermen do not spare the bait, and presently the whole shoal rises around the nets. When there are no more fish to be taken, the nets are hauled in, the sardines taken out, and the boats make for shore. On landing, the sardines are taken from the boats to the factories and the preparations begin at once. Women cut off the heads, open and clean the fish, and place them, one by one, on stone or marble slabs previously strewed with salt. While this preliminary drying takes place, the fires are lighted and the oil is put in im mense cauldrons. When the oil is in a state of ebullition, the sardines are laid in layers in iron wire baskets provided with handles. These baskets are plunged into the boiling oil, and then placed on shelves covered with sheet zinc to drain, the oil being caught for future use. The fish, when moderately dry, are taken to the large drying-house, exposed to the sea breeze, where they remain for a longer or shorter period, according to the state of the atmosphere. On leaving it, they are sorted and put into boxes. The best fish are those which are put in quarter boxes, each containing eight to twelve fish. The smallest fish are often
metamorphosed into anchovies. Large quantities of these tooth some fish are shipped to the United States, but they are not now so generally used as they were formerly in this country. This is due to a variety of causes. In the first place, the quality of the fish has sadly degenerated, through the substitution of cotton-seed and groundnut oil for pure olive oil in packing the fish. In the second place, a variety of canned fish, salmon, oysters, meats, poultry, etc., of home production, now figure more or less exten sively as relishes upon the American lunch and dinner table. As a consequence of this innovation, sardines are much cheaper than they were in former times.
The true sardine, says H. C. Hovey, is a fish found near Sar dinia, in the 'Mediterranean Sea. But the same fish swims in other waters, and although its qualities may be slightly changed by its surroundings, naturalists recognize no difference. As a matter of fact, most of the sardines in market were caught along the coast of Portugal and Brittany, the principal place of export being Bordeaux. Crossing the Channel to Devonshire and Corn wall, we find the very same fish under the name of pilchard, and it is stated by an English authority, that, on an average, 30,000 hogsheads are annually exported, and chiefly to points along the Mediterranean. And, as 2,500 of these little fish are reckoned to a hogshead, it makes the average annual catch of pilchards 75,000,000.
The widespread family of the Clupidec, to which the sardine belongs, includes many allied species, most of which are valued as food fishes, while some of them are highly prized by epicures. What are known as "Spanish sardines" are the Ilarengula of the West Indies and the Pellosa of South America. Whatever may have been originally meant by "Russian sardines," the name is now applied to spiced herrings, and the majority used in this coun try are caught in our own waters, sent in bulk to New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, or points still further West, where dealers who wish to create the impression that they are imported, put them up in small kegs with willow hoops and foreign labels.