Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/716

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698 HERRING IIERSCHEL The product of the Dominion of Canada, as re- turned by the commissioner of fisheries, for the year ending June 30, 1872, was 293,932 bar- rels of salted and 606,705 boxes of smoked her- rings, valued at $1,312,306; the product of Nova Scotia being valued at $682,628, of New- Brunswick at $500,628, of Quebec at $87,206, and of Ontario at $41,844. The chief seats of the Newfoundland fishery are Labrador, the bay of Islands, Bonne bay, and St. George's bay on the W. coast, and Fortune bay on the S. coast. In the bay of Islands the herring fishery opens in September and continues throughout the winter. When the bay is fro- zen the fish are taken in nets through holes in the ice. The exports of herrings from New- foundland in 1872. amounted to 140,873 barrels salted, and 6,898 fresh. Of the whole amount 53,780 barrels were from Labrador and 53,000 from the French shore. The Scotch herring fishery is pursued along the N. W. and E. coasts, the latter being the seat of the most productive fishery. The quantity cured in 1872 was 773,859 barrels, of which 751,524 were cured on shore, and 22,335 in vessels ; 671,703 were cured gutted, and 102,156 ungutted. The number of vessels fitted out was 95 (making 136 voyages) ; tonnage, 2,976 ; number of men, 434. The number of boats employed in a se- lected week for each district was 8,252 ; fish- ermen, 29,378; whole number of employees, including curers, &c., 58,899. The fishery is pursued to some extent in the winter, but chiefly in the summer. Yarmouth is the head- quarters of the English herring fishery, em- ploying about 200 vessels and 2,000 men. The winter fishery which closed with January, 1872, was unusually productive, 240,000,000 fish, equivalent to about 600,000 cwt., being landed. The value of the herring fishery along the E. coast of Ireland in 1872 was about 250,000, the greater portion of which was obtained by Cornish, Scotch, and Manx boats. The high- est number of boats that fished during the sea- son was 394, of which 116 were Irish, 120 Cor- nish, 100 Scotch, and 58 Manx. The exports of herrings from the United Kingdom during that year amounted to 631,750 barrels, valued at $891,634. When pickled and packed in bar- rels they are known in Great Britain as " white' 1 herrings ; salted and smoked, they are called "red" herrings. "Bloaters" are herrings slightly cured and smoked, and intended for immediate use. In France, in 1869, 222 ves- sels of 11,944 tons and 4,209 men were fitted out for the salt herring fishery, and 561 vessels of 14,782 tons and 6,941 men for the fresh her- ring fishery ; 270,150 cwt. of salt and 132,140 of fresh fish were brought in. The Dutch fish- eries, which once surpassed all others, have greatly declined, but the Dutch herrings still command the highest price in the continental markets. The product of the Norwegian fish- ery is about 1,000,000 barrels a year. In most of the northern countries of Europe large quan- tities are annually captured. For a detailed account of the habits and fishery of the her- ring, the reader is referred to vol. xx. of the Histoire naturelle des poissons, by Cuvier and Valenciennes, by whom several other species are described. The history of this fish is con- nected with many strange superstitions and beliefs ; their sudden disappearance has in va- rious places been attributed to fires on the- shores, the discharge of cannon, and the action of steamboat wheels. (See FISHERIES.) I1ERRING, John Frederick, an English painter, born in Surrey in 1795, died Sept. 22, 1865. His father was a London tradesman, an Ameri- can by birth, and he himself was a stage coach- man in early life. His ambition was to paint a race horse, and for 18 years he persevered, until he achieved reputation in this class of subjects. For 33 years he took the portraits of the winners of the Doncaster St. Leger, and painted an immense number of racers and racing scenes for eminent patrons of the turf. Afterward he executed scenes from the farm- yard, in which, although the horse is still the prominent object, many other animals and a variety of fowls and birds are introduced. Many of these are extensively known through engravings, which have considerable populari- ty in the United States, where some of his best pictures have also been exhibited. Among his pictures are "The Roadside," "The Members of the Temperance Society," and " The Baron's Charger." 1IKKKMHT. See MORAVIANS. HERSCHEL. I. Sir William, an English astron- omer, born in Hanover, Nov. 15, 1738, died at Slough, near Windsor, Aug. 23, 1822. His father, a musician, educated him to his own profession, and at the age of 14 placed him in the band of the Hanoverian foot guards. In 1757 he went to England to seek his for- tune, and for some years he devoted himself to music for support. He is said to have been engaged in military bands and at concerts, but there is much confusion in the stories relating to this period of his life. He became organist at Halifax, and in 1766 at the Octagon chapel in Bath. In the latter place he first turned his attention to the study of astronomy, particu- larly to the construction of optical instruments. In 1774 he had made a large reflecting tele- scope. While at Bath he constructed 200 New- tonian telescopes of 7 ft. focus, 150 of 10 ft., and about 80 of 20 ft., and did far more than any one who had preceded him in uniting to the best advantage the magnifying and the il- luminating power of the telescope. Either of these qualities may easily be strengthened, but at the expense of the other, and the exact proportion in which they must be united to render the greatest amount of light effective was a problem which required many careful experiments. With one telescope, magnifying 227 times, Herschel began a careful survey of all the stars, serially ; and while examining the constellation of Gemini, he noticed (March 13, 1781) that one of them appeared unusually