The record-union., 1895-08-23
FRENCH SARDINES SCARCE.
The Catch This Season is Said to Be
Failure.
An Inferior Fish Palin7d Off Ga the
I'ublic-The California
Product.


There is a famine in the French sardlne
trade The fish should have begun to ap-
pear upon the coast of Brittany and in
the Bay of Discay in May, but up to the
lst of this month mono had been taken.
1t sometimes happens after severe
winter that they do not reach European
waters until late IN the autumn. In that
case they are too large TO be utilized 1or
the higher class of goods demanded IN
this country. Even in August and Sep
tenber they are too large. Such is the
situation this year. AS consequence at
tenpts are being made from both France
and the East to iorce sprats on the mar
ket in lieu of the sardine. These are
really q species of herring, very inferior
fish, and, what is more, are packed In OIL
of much lower grade than that employed
for the conservation of the genuine sar-
dine. The latter are almost entirely used
in California, mostly being the french
product, with a certain proportion put up
by packing company IN Southern tall-
fOrnia.
AS the genuine French article will soon
be no longer procuraOle, there VIII only
remain the choice between the foreign or
Eastern sprats and the California sardlne.
| Unfortunately for the public which al
ways demands French labels, there Will
| be nothing on the exterior OF the cans 10
distinguish between the genuine and the
spurious article The taste will tell con-
noisseurs of the difference. though there
are other means of determining whetner
the fish are sardiues or only small her
ring.
That there is no eXaggeration In the
| statement made of the failure OF the
| French sardins catch is shown by a letter
received by firm of local importers from
! Rodel Il Fills Ereres, one OF the pflnclpai
| houses in that line OF business. having
headquarters at Bordeaux aud establish
ments at Etel, Concarneau, St. 1rlelX
and Quikson. Writing under date OF July
18th they say: There Is no change IN the
situation. There is a total absence OF the
fish, and we cannot explain the pro-
longed delay in its appearance. Two
months have gone by, and this loss ol
time cannot now be made up. Not
single ton of genuine sardines has been
put up this season in France. and conse-
auently those holding stock over from
last year are asking high prices"
The average consumption OF french
sardines on this coast Is i, 0OO cases OF lOO
quarter tins such as are usually solo Dy
grocers. The amount on hand held by
San Francisco importers IS only between
500 and OUU cases. L OrlneIly WHou LIE
local supply was short, the New \ ork
market could be drawn upon. but this
cannot be done this year as 1t IS almost
exhausted Of the genuine sardlne The
sprat differs from the sardlne in having a
smooth skin like that of the eel. while
the former has scales. If the consumer
wants to know if ne is buying one or the
other, all he has to do is to take knife
and scrape the fish from the tail toward
The head. That will tell the story. Ii
there be no scales the fish are sprats.
These latter are mostly taken OFT the
coasts OF France, Spain and Portugal,
and while they pass through the custom
house as herrings they are sold as sar-
Dimes In one case the duty OF 70 per
cent. ad valorem: in the other y cents a
tin. or 30 cents dozen. OF late years the
demand on this coast has been for sar-
dimes opening with keys, but there re-
mained in France last season some lots
put up under the old system. There has
been no change yet in the latter, the price
remaining at 81 30 dozen, but the quota
ton of quarter sardines with keys has
advanced from 81 % to 81 90 aud 81 SO q
dozen, with an upward tendency. The
prices, however, are not so much OF IN
terest as the fact that soon the only genu-
inc sardines obtainable will be those OF
the California CATCH amounting TO about
5000 cases a year. Sprats will be gener-
ally substituted for sardlnes, and at sar-
dine prices.