The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-10-06
"SARDINES."
THE AMERICAN IMITATION OF
A FRENCH DELICACY.
How Herrings Are Caught Along
the Maine Coast and Turned
Into Sardines by Means
of q Patent Sauce.

'sIt is fact that can't be denied, !"
said New York wholesale grocer, "that
there are very few imported sardines, and
consequently very few sardines at all,
sold in the United States nowadays, and
yet one consumer in thousand does not
know the difference, so nearly do the
fish that are sold for sardines approach
the genuine both in appearance and
taste. Nine-tenths of our sardines come
from Maine. There are in Eastport
alone over twenty places where. they
manufacture sardines. and there are a
dozen others at Jonesport, Lubec, and
other towns.
1.-THE herring of which sardines are
made are never over four inches long,
and the catching of the fish keeps hun
dreds of people busy along the coasts of
Maine and New Brunswick. The her.
ring 90 in shoals like mackcrel, and the
prices received for them is governed en-
tirely by the condition of the fisheries.
Sometimes the fish swarm along the
coasts, and hauls are made with unvary-
ing success. Then the fisherman can ex-
pcct no more than S. hogshead for his
herring. Again, his net may be but
poorly patronized, and he has his recon-
pense in higher price, frequently OBJ
tanning SIS and $50 a hogshead. These
big prices are generally obtained carly
in the spring.
A herring fishery is simple thing.
Small trees or brush ore thrust into the
sandy bottom of the sea, arranged in q
line running out probably one hundred
feet or more and then curving back to
the shore again. This is called q trap,
and inside of it a huge net is set. When
the tide is going out the net is raised,
and the fish that comes up with it are
taken out with scoop nets. Sometimes
this catch will be so large that the weight
of the fish will break the bottom out OF
the big net, and the great heap of fish
will nearly all escape. Then, again, the
fishermen are able to carry in bushel
bag all the herring that are caught in
haul. Herring, like mackerel, will fol-
low light on the water, and some fish
ermen take advantage of this to fish for
them in a peculiar way. Two or three
fishermen 60 in boat. They are pro-
vided with torches made of cotton bat
ting saturated with kerosene. Dark
nights are chosen, and the boats are
rowed along the shores, with torch in
the bow OF each boat. It is soon known
when school of herring is reached, for
the fish dash frantically after the wake
of light made by the torch, and make
the water seethe and boil In their rush.
The fishermen have short poles, on one
end of which is small scoop net. They
dip the herring out of the water with
these as fast as the nets can be handled,
and so intent are the fish on the light
that the net does not disturb them in
the least. In this way boat load after
boat load of future sardines are captured
in short time.
"The way these herring are handled
at the factories is a sight we'll worth
going all the way to Maine to see. After
being captured the fish are taken imme.
diately to the factories. They are laid
in heaps on long tables. I have heard
some of the native fishermen around here
talk about their skill in skinning cat
fish. If they could see some of the boys
and girls who work in these sardine fac
tories clean these herring they would
never mention skinning o catfish again.
The fish are cleaned as soon as they come
in. Istood and watched seven-year-
old girl 90 through the operation and
timed her. She beheaded and guttcd
seventy-hve herring every minute for ten
minutes without miss OF halt, and
they told me that there were hundreds
more that could do the same thing and
keep it up all day. The dexterity is
simply marvellous. The head of the fish
is cut off and the entrails are removed
with one stroke of the knife, but how it
is done I am not able to say. Each fish
cleaner has box at his feet which holds
a bushel, and constant stream of fish Is
falling from his hands into that box.
Every time it is filled the boy or girl has
earned ten cents.
"The herring are thoroughly washed
after being cleaned, and are then placed
in pickle for an hour. Taken from the
pickle. they are laid on trays and placed
in drying room heated to a high tenn
perature by steam. When dry the fish
are boilcd in large shallow pans filled
with oil, the fish being thoroughly cooked
in the oil. Girls and women then pack
the herring in the tin boxes in which
thew are placed in the market. The
siuce discovered by the cnterprising
New Yorker, which is patented article,
is poured into the boxes, which are
handed over to men who solder On the
covers. To remove the air which IS
sealed in with the fish, and which must
be taken out to insure the preservation
of the sardincs, the boxes are placed IN
o tank of boiling water for half an hour.
On being removed they are placed on an
inclined plane. The air inside IS then
driven to one corner; a workman pune
lures that corner with an awl; the hot
air escapes, and the awl hole is i'm
mediately covered with q drop of solder,
and the box is air tight. The box then
receives its French label, bearing the IN
scription, rhuillc d'olive." The hull e
d'olive' is made from cotton seed IN South
Carolina, and isn't the best quality OF
that either, not by good deal There
is a class of these Maine sardines, how
ever. known rs prime, which are pre-
served in the best cotton-seed oil.
"New York is the great wholesale
center for these Yankee sardines. Some
idea of the magnitude of the business
NAV be obtained when Itell you that one
factory alone in Lubec, and there are
others that are doing as big a business,
made and sold ncarIy two million boxes
of sardines last year, to say nothing OF
.Ilo, I>ronlu nf froDS-