Evening star., 1901-02-02
EDITORIAL NOTICE.
organ seems to fail to do its duty.

nishman. He kippers them, salts them
marlnates them for his Sunday morning
breakfast, follows the lead of the French
man and turns them into sardines. packs
them into barrels and sends them off 20
Italy. boils them fresh. fries them fresh
and, a great point eats them. often with
cream. His, confreres use them to bait
their hand lines and spillers, and, in fact,
q west-eountry fisherman finds a pilchard
come in pretty handy "inside and OUT as
the American said.
In days past the fish were only salted,
squeezed, packed and hampered off to Italy
to feed the fasting Catholics, and at that
time St Ives was the chief center. but
nowadays sardining has divided honors
with the transportation business, and at
Mevagissey and Newlyn factories are turn
ing out the little square tin boxes as fast
as they know how, and yet the cry of the
buyers is, Faster, more! We can sell em
If you'll let. us have them" So the drifters
work nightly and the factory hands toll
daily, and it is good for the people.
The method Is this: When the sun begins
to set out go the luggers from every port
Island Of ST. Ives. Fleets numbering forty
to fifty sail even at the small ports, and
when old Sol has been turned out for the
night overheard go the nets, mile long
and four fathoms deep beneath the surface,
kept from sinking by cork buoys. Then
down go the brown sails, and the luggers
drift with the long walls of net till The
small hours Of the morning, when the cap
stan is manned and the nets hauled III
With them safe aboard homeward go the
fleet little ships, and their little coast towns
are filled with fish. AS many as 12.OO0.UOO
have been landed at st. Ives in one day.
The young fish go to the sardine men, the
best of the older ones to the sailing factory
and the remainder are hawked around the
villages, "Pilchard, pilchard, six ponny'
six ponny!
The curing for shipment to Italy is some
what simple. In the '70s the fish We're
stacked, with alternate layers of salt. until
there they stayed with the brine and Oil
oozing out Of the heap until month had
passed. But a comparatively new and more
expeditions method Is now In vogue, the
fish being placed loosely with salt and wa
ter in stone tanks five feet square until
sufficiently picked, when they are washed
and packed into hogsheads. When the
barrel Is full down comes press and In go
the fish to q third Of their original bulk
Then the barrel is filled up again and the
process repeated until $500 nestle inside.
The atmosphere inside is rather close by
then so the tub Is headed up and labeled
ready for shipment. In some ports half
hogsheads are now used, as they are a
more handy size, and then 1900 fish VIII
form a complement. In, 1871 $1,000 hogs
heads were sent to Naples, which means
something like H. 100000 fish. The next
time reader of the Express goes to South
Cornwall and sees out at sea long line OF
twnkling lights, looking like town amid
the waters" he will know that the pilchard
drifters are at work.
Then let him remember that Frencn sar
dimes are only pilchards, after all, and that
Cornish sardines, or ''pilchards in oil. are
prepared by similar process to that gen.
ereI I'm Normandy.