Few persons are probably yet aware of the extent to which the little fish Engrau-lus Meletta, from the coast of Sardinia, is being supplanted by the small Culpea so numerous on the coast of Maine. The New England Herring deftly put up in cotton-seed oil may be quite as appetizing as the Sardine, once embalmed in pure huile-d'olive; but let not the unsophisticated purchaser of the attractive tin box too hastily conclude that its showy label, its Napoleonic head, and its French superscription guarantee the genuineness of its contents. Sardines imported from the Mediterranean are rapidly becoming a tradition ; and the coasts of Maine and New Brunswick, in the vicinity of Passamaquoddy Bay, furnish a substitute which in character is similar to if not identical with the Culpea Sprattus, so abundant on the English coasts.

It is now ten years since a room was fitted up in a store in New York City for the purpose of trying how close an imitation of the French Sardine could be produced. This room was for many weeks closed to all but the experimenter and the two partners of the firm. The difficulty of procuring suitable and sufficient material for their purpose was overcome on discovering that at Eastport, Me., a small fish was used for fertilizing farm lands which seemed to be what they had so long and anxiously sought. The first canning-factory was established in Eastport in 1876, and since then eighteen other factories have been started there, besides eight at Lubec, three at Jonesport, two at Robbinston, and one at each of half a dozen other near-by places.

To catch the fish, weirs are constructed, built of piles driven where the water is twenty feet deep, and the spaces between interlaced with rails and brush. An opening is left in the weir, through which the fish enter at high water, and a deep seine closes this aperture when the weir is well filled. Before low water, the fishermen, with a large scoop-net, take the fish out of the weir into their boats. The fish are offered for sale by the hogsheadful to about seventy-five boatmen employed by the different factories. When there has been a large catch the bidding is dull and the prices are low ; but when only a few of the weirs have been replenished the competing bidders become excited, and a looker-on is reminded of a stock-exchange. Early in 1877 $1 per hogshead was thought to be a good price; but in the last year $30 have been paid. After the highest bidder has secured his stock, he starts his boat and hoists a signal flag, to notify his employers that he is on his way to their factory.

This business extends from the middle of April to the middle of December of each year, and has increased from 1,500 cases of 100 cans each, which were all that were packed in 1877, to 200,000 cases, which were sent to market in 1883. About five cents will cover the actual cost of converting the herrings into a box of palatable Sardines.