Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-30


about two fee, high, into which the her
rings are emptied from the fishermen ;.
baskets, or from his own carts, and
around which the "crews' of Sou
rers' work. Formerly the "creel. - OF
square wicker basket was used in the de-
livery of fish. This has been superseded
by the circular 'Quarter-cran basket
four of which make the "crHu' OF
Jhirty-seven and a half imperial gallons
the standard measure upon which all
estimates on Scottish herring, and ex-
pense in securing the same. are based =.
For handling the fish o: ten boats. the
curer will employ three coopers. and one
crew of "gutters or thirty "gutters,s
in all. The latter are invariebfy
women, crofters' wives, daughtSIs +,
sisters. Five tons or 200 bushels OF SIN
10 the 100 Grams, will be needed; and he
provides barrels and salt on the basis of
an average years fishing. giving him
from 1900 10 1000 Grams of fish from the
ten boats. s.
On the arrival OF the elect the fish
are sold ut auction. plan very recentfy
introduced, and identical with that of
our own herring fishers at EHstport, Maine
Samples of behring's are retained by the
auctioGeer in case of disputes. The sales
mau charges the fishermen u small per
centage, as at New Haven, on the Firt
of Forth; lie becomes responsible to the
fishermen for the money, aud payments
are maze daily or weekly, rs agreed. .
At an ordinary east-Coast herring fishing
port fully 1000 "gutters and packers
will be at work. Perhaps 600 of these
IRE women. As stated, three form q
"crew'' Two use the knife and one
'parks. They work with marvellous
rnp;dity. The herring is held in the left
hand. Inserting the knife in the throat
of the fish, sidewise. with the right hand
with one swift movement in "a pull-like
cut, - as one of the women DESERT ed il
10 me, the herring is opened and cleaned
and whisked into basket. 1t is 80
quickly done that the eye cannot follow
the process. The behring's are next
sorted, shifted TO receiving boxes, and
then emptied into 'rousing-boxes
in which they are thoroughly
s'roused'' or mixed with salt.
IN PACKING,
which Immediately follows, the tiers
are formed between layers of salt,
by placing the behring's backs
downward. One herring Is laid in the
center Of u forming tier, and then a linz
of the fish Is run in either direction to
the barrel sides the spaces left on each
side of this line being laid with fish,
heads outwards. Every alternate tier is
laid transversely. The barrels are heaped
two tiers above their level, and are then
known as 'upsers.'' In two days
time the salt is partly melted and u por-
iion OF the ''pickle' is poured off. The
herring have also "piued, that is.
shrunk. Chilling up follows. The
barrels are then "tighted' by the coop
ers, when they are commercially known
as "sea sticks After ten days they
are opened, the tpickIe'' again poured
off, more behring's are crowded into
them, they are again ''tighted, - sol-
idly filled with pickle through the bung,
laid in double rows; aud are now ready
for official inspection.
The women forming these curers'
crews, who are largely from the west
coast and the Hebrides, receive 81 of
bounty, called 'earnest- money -
which is known as ''arles'' on the Aoer-
deeushire coast; about eight pence per
barrel for cleaning and packing, and
three pence per hour when at the final
filings. They are usually found rude
lodgings In addition, where, In
Illnesses. they live with the utmost
ECONOMY; for thew are working here to
keep the croft-;hatoh above their heads
at home. They often labor sixteen and
eighteen hours per day. They are of all
ages, from fifteen to fifty years. Work.
ing upon perisbable food, depending
upon uncertain delivery from the fisher
men, they do not come within the re-
stricting provisions as to hours of labor
of the British factory acts. Branding
and inspection are simple processes.
Each curer must brand his name and
place or port of cure on the side of each
barrel, as also :scrieve' oil the barrel
the date of "catch,' day of 'cure'
and grade of fish. Government inspec-
ton consists of assuring barrels of a le-
gal size, proper hopping, the curer's
brands and marks and proper classifca-
tion under "Largs Fulls,' 1l1a inches
and upward; "FulIs," l0I inches, aud
"Mattie Fulls. J." 81 inches; all full OF
milt or roe. Seven per cent. of all lots
are actually examined "hit or miss -
In 1909 but 81 FOL barrels were branded.
The highest number known in n single
year to the Scottish herring fisheries was
6s9 S2J barrels. These were branded in
1885. EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.