ngaged in taking them, catches no more than one
at a time, an expert hand will sometimes take four hundred in a
day. The employment is excessively fatiguing, from the weight of
the fish as well as from the coldness of the climate.

COD A L'ITALIENNE.

241. INGREDIENTS.--2 slices of crimped cod, 1 shalot, 1 slice of ham
minced very fine, 1/2 pint of white stock, No. 107; when liked, 1/2
teacupful of cream; salt to taste; a few drops of garlic vinegar, a
little lemon-juice, 1/2 teaspoonful of powdered sugar.

_Mode_.--Chop the shalots, mince the ham very fine, pour on the stock,
and simmer for 15 minutes. If the colour should not be good, add cream
in the above proportion, and strain it through a fine sieve; season it,
and put in the vinegar, lemon-juice, and sugar. Now boil the cod, take
out the middle bone, and skin it; put it on the dish without breaking,
and pour the sauce over it.

_Time_.--3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 3s. 6d., with fresh fish.

_Seasonable_ from November to March.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

THE FECUNDITY OF THE COD.--In our preceding remarks on the
natural history of fishes, we have spoken of the amazing
fruitfulness of this fish; but in this we see one more instance
of the wise provision which Nature has made for supplying the
wants of man. So extensive has been the consumption of this
fish, that it is surprising that it has not long ago become
extinct; which would certainly have been the case, had it not
been for its wonderful powers of reproduction. "So early as
1368," says Dr. Cloquet, "the inhabitants of Amsterdam had
dispatched fishermen to the coast of Sweden; and in the first
quarter of 1792, from the ports of France only, 210 vessels went
out to the cod-fisheries. Every year, however, upwards of 10,000
vessels, of all nations, are employed in this trade, and bring
into the commercial world more than 40,000,000 of salted and
dried cod. If we add to this immense number, the havoc made
among the legions of cod by the larger scaly tribes of the great
deep, and take into account the destruction to which the young
are exposed by sea-fowls and other inhabitants of the seas,
besides the myriads of their eggs destroyed by accident, it
becomes a miracle to find that such mighty multitudes of them
are still in existence, and ready to continue the exhaustless
supply. Yet it ceases to excite our