A curing station, with smoking-house and oil-works, with appliances for converting the refuse into manure, and ice-houses for packing fish in ice in warm weather.

Necessary as all these arrangements are to the perfect development of the undertaking, it will at once be apparent that it is the employment of a Screw-Carrier which invests it with a real, practical value:

The introduction of this powerful agent into the fishing trade will not only ensure a degree of regularity and punctuality in the delivery of the company's fish hitherto unknown in any previous undertaking, but save much valuable time now lost by sailing vessels running to market with their own fish, and their frequent detention by adverse winds, stress of weather, and calms, during which half the fish is totally lost, and the remainder much depreciated in value. It will also enable others fishing at great disadvantage, owing to distance of market, to dispose of their fish on the spot at an equally remunerative price, and will save much time, and consequently profit, now lost by carrying their own fish (it is estimated that nearly one half of a vessel's time is thus lost), which will be a great boon to them and an advantage to the company that will more than pay the expenses of the steamer.

The additional expense incurred by employing a vessel of this description bears the most insignificant proportion to the increase of profit arising from its use. Commander Symonds states that one or two successful runs with winter herrings would pay her expenses for a year. Her services would be equally available under all conditions of weather:

Imagine for a moment a fleet of fishing vessels in a scarce season laying becalmed in a bay, or close in shore, with a fine breeze in the offing, making futile attempts to get out there against a contrary tide or current, when if once there they would be literally catching silver. Very often thus detained for days, perhaps succeeded by a gale, of what use might not the screw-boat be in such a case? This is by no means an overdrawn picture. Again, in calm weather, how invaluable would be her services in towing out the drift-net boats for herrings or mackerel, that without her might lose a night's catch. Besides, this vessel need never be idle; for if circumstances should require her to fish, she is as well calculated for the purpose as any, especially for long-line fishing.

The "Screw-Carrier," thus constantly engaged in conveying fish to shore as soon as caught, is placed in immediate relation with the railway from Galway to Dublin-and the cargo thus rapidly transferred reaches the London market within twenty-four hours of the time when the fish were actually swimming in the western sea. At such places as Birmingham, which we name on account of its large population and inland position, the arrival of fresh fish occurs several hours sooner, and all the world knows how greatly the value of fish is enhanced by its freshness. It is within our own knowledge that in this identical Birmingham the fishfactors, who supply the retail dealers, are not over-particular as to the date at which their commodity was caught, provided it be not too stale to be uneatable. A gentleman from London recently in that town was conferring with the principal fish-salesman there on the subject of supply, and inquiring into the condition in which it arrived, when the latter offered to unpack a cargo for his inspection. The offer was accepted, the fish was diplayed, and the salesman eulogised its freshness. "And when was this fish caught?" asked the London gentleman. "Only eight days ago!" was the satisfied reply. "But," he added, with a smile, when he observed his interlocutor's astonishment, "that is quite fresh enough for Birmingham." We imagine, when the operations of the West of Ireland Fishing Company are fairly under weigh, that the good

people of Birmingham will materially alter their opinion. And the influence of this Company will be felt not only in Birmingham, but in all the populous districts of which that town is the centre, the liberal policy adopted on the English lines of railway with regard to fish-traffic materially contributing to the facility with which the local markets can be supplied. The increased sale of fish at Birmingham and the principal manufacturing and other towns, both in England and Ireland, consequent on the development of the railway and steam-boat system, may be taken as a proof that the demand will steadily increase in proportion to increased facilities of transport, especially if the supply be regular; a return furnished by the superintendent of the general market at Birmingham shows that in 1839 the quantity of fish sold there was at the rate of from four to five tons per week; in 1852, twenty-five tons per week; in 1854, from thirty to forty tons per week, and it is still increasing very much. "It is to London, however," says Commander Symonds, "that the bulk of the fish should be sent, being, with all the drawbacks of carriage, at present the most certain of return; and being duly advised by electric telegraph of a glut in the market, the fish would be sent elsewhere."

We have adverted to the town of Galway as the point of departure for the fish taken on the western coast of Ireland. This town has been chosen as the head-quarters of the Company for the following reasons:

It is situated at the head of a magnificent fishing bay thirty miles long and seven miles broad, in which every sort of fishing may be carried on throughout the year in its respective season. It is in the centre of a district of coast abounding with fish and bait of every species, with good harbours, and a fishing population of 7297 men, 497 boys, with 1818 boats; and extensive salmon and white trout rivers, from which the fish may be purchased on advantageous terms. There is great local demand for both fresh and cured fish (especially for that of an inferior class, which would not always pay carriage to another market); good and capacious docks, with any amount of storeage and building for curing-houses at a moderate rent, and cheap markets for provisions; a railway within six hours of Dublin, eighteen of Birmingham, and twenty of London.

We have hitherto spoken of edible fish only, but the objects of the Company embrace a source of vast profit arising from the appliances to which the fish that is inedible may be directed. These are: the extraction of a great quantity of oil, and gelatine for fish-glue, from certain descriptions of fish, some of them otherwise useless; and the conversion of fish-offal into a manure which has been ascertained by experiment to be nearly as rich as the best Peruvian guano. The most valuable of the oil-producing fish on the western coast of Ireland is the sun-fish, or basking-shark, which is seen every year in large numbers on the distant banks, and occasionally close to the shore, in packs of twenty-five or thirty, in very fine weather. Commander Symonds says:

There were four taken at Galway this year, and many were seen in the vicinity of the Arran Islands. The average size is about twenty-five feet long by eighteen feet in circumference in the largest part, the shape resembling a shark. The liver has hitherto been considered the only valuable part, averaging thirty cwt., and containing about 180 gallons of fine oil, second only to sperm, and sells from 4s. to 5s. per gallon. The carcase, which may be estimated at from four to five tons, is of a gelatinous character, consequently of great value: it is now thrown away as useless. Neither skill nor courage are required in the

capture, it being of a sluggish nature, and literally presenting its most vulnerable part to the harpoon.

Commander Symonds thinks that the screw-steamer would, in calm weather, when they are mostly seen, be of infinite service in the pursuit of this productive fish. Sprats, also, which, as we have seen, are often taken in enormous quantities, furnish a great deal of oil:

In illustration of the profits to be made on this fish irrespective of the large quantities that must be applied to the manufacture of manure, I give the following statement of what actually occurred on the west coast on a late occasion. A person totally unacquainted with the trade was induced to expend 250%. in the purchase of sprats, from which four thousand gallons of oil were made, worth about 2s. per gallon, or 4007.; after expressing the oil, near three hundred tons were sold for food, the proceeds of which covered all expenses. (This latter in a guano manufactory would yield at least seventy-five tons of manure, which at 87. per ton would be 6007.) Another party cleared

7007. in a similar transaction.

For conversion into guano all the fish that has hitherto been thrown away as useless, and the refuse of that which is sent to market, may be applied. Half of the fish taken in a trawl are known from experience to be unsaleable, and are consequently thrown overboard; and it is besides the constant habit of the long-line fishers to cut the rays and other coarse fish from the hooks, lest they carry away the gear. Now, the supply of these coarse fish is immense, and their size so large as to make them alone an important item in the formation of guano. The carcase

of the sun-fish would be also a valuable addition; and at certain seasons pollen, gurnard, mackerel, and other fish, appear in such multitudes, that any quantity might be taken in seine-nets, for which it would be impossible to obtain a sale. In addition to the large quantities procured by the Company's vessels both by trawls and long lines, it is calculated that at the commencement many hundred tons of this offal will be produced from fish purchased from the fishermen, independent of that they cure themselves. Besides this, a large quantity may be had at Galway at from 3d. to 6d. per cwt."

It is this facility of procurement and cheapness of supply which must render the fish-guano obtained on the Irish coast so extremely valuable. According to the calculations of M. Payen, the celebrated French chemist, and of M. Pommier, the no less distinguished French agriculturist, who together reported on the capabilities of the great fishfactory at Concarneau, on the coast of Finistère, in Brittany, fish-guano can be produced at a standard price of about thirty per cent. less than the amount paid for that which comes from the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, approximate in its uses, equally portable, and therefore infinitely serviceable to agriculture.

These are the chief points dwelt upon in Commander Symonds's interesting pamphlet, and we may sum up our own observations by saying that, with such an entrepôt as Galway, with such a productive coast as that of which it is the principal harbour, with such facilities of communication from shore to shore, and from thence to every part of England west of London, it needs nothing but a knowledge of the parts which we have indicated to make it apparent to every one how universally beneficial the establishment of a company, with a sufficient capital and under good management, must necessarily prove.

WINE AND WINTER.*

BY CYRUS REDDING.

THE most delightful of Roman poets cheered the unwelcome winter of Italy with the lines

Dissolve frigus, ligno super foco,
Large reponens.

In plain English, "Heap on the fuel, my friends, make a roaring fire, let us melt the cold into wine!" He had not, like us, to take refuge in Wallsend and sulphur, accompanied with clouds of a dull grey, and surrounded with damp yellow fogs that chill the very soul. The fuel of the Tiburine villa extracted fragrance from pine cones beneath a sky of spotless azure, the poet and his friends quaffing cyaths of Falernian and Chian wine, and holding converse meet, seasoned with the Attic eloquence of poets and philosophers, lofty souls that dwelt continually on topics of high import. All was really cheerful and intellectual, the bright sun still indicating something of the finer portion of the year, and making the calamitous season easy to be borne, while upon us hyperboreans winter comes like a rheumatic attack upon the shivering helplessness of age. Around the fire at Tibur, rich wines and choice condiments aided in softening the rigour of the time. Alas for us! our substitute for the wholesome vintage produce must be Barclay and Co.'s "heavy wet"to adopt a term of modern "fashionable" literature-or corn alcohol medicated with vitriol, turpentine, and similar delicious compounds, delicacies partaken to heighten their refinement amid smoky clouds of the poisonous Indian weed, "all so comfortable," as we say, to put a face upon the matter, and conceal our shallow purses under the affectation of the superiority of our enjoyments, over every other apology for a suffering world. Falernian and Chian we pretend to despise, covering our pride in poverty with assumed preferences. Can any evasions of the calamity of winter equal our prime Newcastle, our porter, and gin, things really SO "comfortable?" Away, then, with Italian skies that suffer the cheerful sun to look upon the leafless earth; none of your pine cone fires, nor wines of Chios, or of the sunny shores of the Bay of Naples; we will have none of them. Now we do not see the sense of all this. What if Englishmen say, as the Russian Samoieds said when they visited this country, that they prefer train-oil to roast beef, who will believe them ? There is no accounting for tastes, it is true, and Mr. Bull is obstinate as well as stolid, but in the present instance he is insincere. He would quaff wine if he could get it, and cheer his doggedness with sunshine if his fogs would suffer the glorious rays to penetrate through. John, too, must have his "just and necessary" wars, and as he cannot go to war upon credit, he must be content with a deprivation of enjoyments in order to become a manslayer upon the scale that befits his pride. All this may be very well, but we demur at his declaration of his substitutions for

*Wine: its Use and Taxation. By James E. Tennent. Madden. 1855. Wine Duties considered Financially and Socially. Being a Reply to Sir J. E. Tennent. By W. Bosville James. Longman, Brown, Green, and Co. 1855.

comforts under necessitous circumstances passing for better things, when he knows they are not sterling. The Roman had that "comfort" from which the Englishman is excluded-that which was famed in every age from Noah to Horace for making the "bosom's lord sit lightly on his throne," causing man to forget his cares, the horrors of winter to be forgotten, the soul sublimated, and the "purple light of love" to be diffused

upon

Lips which Venus bathed with joy
In her celestial dew.

As to the ages before Noah, some maintain wine was known even then. We cannot tell why it should not, when we are told that Tubal Cain was clever enough to manufacture so complex an instrument as an organ. This point must be left to divines to settle over their "sherris sack."

Leap we eleven hundred years from Horace to the days of chivalry, leaving Burke to his lamentations about lord and serf marauders alike: it suffices that the lord quaffed his wine, and the squire and knave their mead or ale, free of the thumbscrews of taxation. In those times of Burke's eulogy, of courts of love, and leaguers of Osye and Gascon, amid titled dames, and revelry, the knight, as Walter Scott has it,

Drank the red wine, through the helmet barr'd ;

and as before, drank it without leave of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in our time-we speak with reverence due to so high an officer of state-follows close at the heels of that worst imp of the lower regions, according to Zuevedo, the devil of money, picking the pocket of the fiend as he goes his rounds, with no fear of Sir Richard Mayne and his myrmidons.

It is not under the expectation of drinking wine freely in this age of merchandise and small scholarship that we are censorious in the matter of winter comforts. We only object to excess of taxation, or to duties at the rate of four or five hundred per cent. on the value of the import, and the defence of such a system in the face of the free-trade principle. Further than this, we marvel at the discussion of a question just now which can tend to no benefit on one side or the other. The mooting it at present, when it can be nothing but a "trim reckoning," or words and no more, resembles the discourse of the host to his over-polite guest in the Arabian Nights-the feast out of empty dishes. This is not our fault. The late conflict between the bottle and the lord of the Exchequer had terminated, we imagined, in a truce until the war with Russia was over, and now the question is revived not indeed directly with the Exchequer, but between new combatants who stand "front to front" over their Burgundy, and with aspects which make our souls gloomy as "clouds over the Caspian," threaten our future hopes. We consequently refused to be comforted when the first champion stood alone in his strength, like another Dymock, on the Exchequer behalf, and the old system of levying duties under the fanciful rules of caprice, of taxing luxuries, of upholding the landed interest sub rosa, and similar ideas of the "good old times," all too much on one side, as Lord Norbury, with his wonted humanity, said of the poor wretch's broken jaw, whom he was just going to sentence to an ignominious death.

Jan.-VOL. CVI. NO. CCCCXXI.