The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-22

and do not reappear for days or weeks
 tn such case the fishermen who are plying hook and line or bail-using de- vices are left Idle. The cod may De around in myriads. but without bait the poor toliers of the sea are left pow less. This want of bait often enthiis most serious losses and shortens the seasons catch. IL is evident that if the fishermen had any means Of pre- serving bait In a fresh condition they could take it in any quantity when it Is plentiful and store it up for the lime of famine. 80 that they need never be without bait.
 Mr. Nielsen's apparatus IS designed to meet this difficulty. though it may also be used for many other purposes. Its construction is so simple that any fisherman. after seeing it. can easily make a freezer for himself. and the cost Is almost nothing, All that is wanted Is n stout barrel. some course salt and ice chopped up Into small pieces. This is all that Is needed for ihe new freezer. which Is at once cheap and expeditions in its operation.
 Of course. Ice and sail mixed have long been in use to produce an intense degree of cold, and thus freeze varl- ous articles. The apparatus for nak- ing Ice cream Is a familiar illustration of this. Hitherto, however. this method has aimed at freezing articles indi- rectly. Either the ice and salt have been enclosed in metal receivers, ip isolated rooms, and the cold produced by their intermixturc penetrates into the atmosphere of the refrigerat ting rooms, and SO lowers the temperature as to freeze any articles such us fish or meat placed within them to undergo the process, or the articles to be frozen have been enclosed in metal vessels of various construction. and then buried in the salt and ice. Both these meth- ods are slow in operation. The latest and most improved American salt and ice freezer requires from fourteen to seventeen hours to freeze herring hard. In neither system is there any motion or rotation of the freezing mass.
 By Mir. Nieisen's method half a bar rel of herrings are frozen as hard as a piece of wood in from ten to fifteen min utes. A description of the apparatus will enable any one to make 1t for him. self.
 A common barrel, such as a pork har- four wooden f1anges or laths. and fas- tened to the sides, the sharp edge out ward. They are placed diagnnally, so as to make two irregular triangles, The object of adjusting them in this oblique position is to mix and rotate the articles to be frozen with the salt and ice, the proportion being three goo6 and one part Of salt. Whether the ice or salt is put in first makes no difference. In the present experiment three shovels full of ice were first put in and then one of salt. and so on alter nately until the barrel was half filled. Then the barrel was filled up with fresh herrings and headed. The head of the barrel Is not pointed around the edges in the ordinary way and the "chimes" are cut down perpendicular to the cross, in order to make it easier to put on the square edged head in and take 1t out. The barrel. thus boarded and headed np, was placed on it's side on the floor and rolled one and half turns on it's bilge forward, then back one and a half turns. This rolling was continued for fifteen min utes at q moderately quick rate of speed. which must be learned by expe- rience. If too slow longer time is re- qrired for freezing. At the end of fif- teen minutes the head of the barrel was removed. The whole contents of the barrel intermingled, and the whole her. rings found to be frozen almost as hard as rock. They were then placed in saWdust and examined at the end of a fortnight and found to be as hard as ever, without the least sign of soften ing. Four more barrels were treated in the same way. So intense was the cold that one of the men got the tips of his fingers frost bitten in handling the her rings. Where sawdust cannot be ob- tained dry mould or moss will do as well. The ice and salt can be used over again many times, as long as 1t will last.
 Those who witnessed the experiment expressed warmly their delight and astonishmnt. There was but one opinion as to the great benefit this bar rel freezer will confer on our fishermen. Captain Blandford. one of the most in- telligent and experienced of our flsher- men, declared that if he had had such a freezer with him last year on Labra- dor it would have been worth $1.600. Invariably he lost each Monday in pro- curing bait, as he had no way of keep ing it fresh from the Saturday, and sometimes one or two days more from want of bait. Captain Whiteley, an other Labrador man, was equally em- phatic in it's praise, The fishermen were no less enthusiastic.
 MT Neilsen is to exhibit the invention tion in Harhor Grace and otker out ports. Large numbers of these freezers will speedily be in use.
 MT. Neilsen stated that he is not the inventor, but a friend and countryman of his in Norway, named MT. Wal lems, who has sent him a model and permitted him to use it in this coun- try. The fisheries department will nc doubt send an honorarium to the h.
 ventor as an acknowledgment of his kindness.
 It is easy to see that the benefits of such an ingenious but simple appa- ratus will not be confined to freezing bait. Fish of all kiads-cod, salmon