MASSACHUSETTS: PLYMOUTH DISTRICT. 221 



keeps tl)3 mixture in motion; at the same time from 25 to 30 per cent, of sulplmric acid is added 

 by means of a feed-pipe from a tank near by. After a thorough mixture the phosphate is added, 

 when it is once more thoroughly mixed and then taken to the drying-room, where it remains three 

 weeks. It is then placed in a steam dryer, and after a thorough drying the entire mixture is pul- 

 verized in the Holmes & Blanchard disintegrator. It is then packed in strong burlaps or sacks of 

 200 pounds each, or in barrels of 250 pounds. The demand is mainly from New England and the 

 Southern States, the supply for the former being put up in barrels and for the latter in sacks. As 

 the valuable qualities of these fertilizers are becoming more generally known the demand is con- 

 stantly growing. During the short time this factory has been in operation it has produced 5,000 

 tons of various fertilizers sold under the trade names of the Standard Fertilizer, Superphosphate, 

 and Food for Plants. Exclusive of the fertilizer factory the amount of capital invested in the 

 fisheries of this place in 1879 was $27,580. The number of persons employed was eighty-two. 

 The products of the fisheries were valued at about $16,000, and included 440,000 pounds of fresh 

 mackerel, 2.80,000 pounds of cod, 5,000 bushels of clams, and 4,800 pounds of lobsters. 



72. PLYMOUTH AND ITS FISHERIES. 



PAST AND PRESENT IMPORTANCE OF THE FISHERIES. This old historic town, with all its 

 other honors, may well claim to have been the birthplace of the fishing industry of New England. 

 From the lauding of the Puritans, December 22, 1020, to the present time, for two hundred and sixty 

 years, the business has been carried on to a greater or less extent. From the records of the Massa- 

 chusetts Historical Society we find petitions to the General Court in 1671 for a fishing privilege to 

 the Plymouth Colony. There is no record of the number of licenses granted to vessels until 1793, in 

 which year 97 vessels, mostly from 30 to GO tons, a few 80 to 100 tons, and one each 111 and 114 

 tons, were granted licenses for cod fishing. The first record of a bounty being paid on fish is in 

 1S03, -when 84 vessels reported a catch of 42,000 quintals, receiving $19,987.62 bounty ; in 1804, 74 

 vessels, 37,000 quintals cod, bounty paid $18,063.62; from that date until 1815 the reccrd is lost. 

 From 1815 until 1867, during which time the bounty was paid, the yearly catch, number of vessels, 

 and amount of bounty paid will be found in the review of this district. Separate licenses were 

 granted for mackerel and cod until 1867, since which time it has been under one general fishing 

 license, without any bounty. A large export trade was carried on for years ; we find in 1805 for 

 the three months ending December 31, 36,167 quintals of cod were exported ; in 1804, same time, 

 23,645 quintals of cod, mostly sent to the Spanish ports on the Mediterranean. The yearly exports 

 and value from 1803 to 1879 are given in the review of the district. 



The town of Plymouth has probably more fresh-water ponds and small lakes than any other 

 town in the State. They are said to number 365, and nearly all of them are well stocked with 

 fresh-water fish, such as bass, red and white perch, pickerel, eels, &c. The largest of these ponds 

 are named Herring Pond, Long Pond, Halfway Pond, White Island, Great South, Boot, and Bil- 

 liugtou Sea. They are from 1 to 3 miles long and one-half to three-quarters of a mile wide, some of 

 them very deep, Long Pond having been sounded 120 feet. Not any fish are taken from these 

 ponds for commercial purposes, except through the ice during the winter. The last mentioned, 

 Billingtou Sea, is one and a quarter miles long and one-half to three-quarters of a mile wide. It is 

 recorded that one of the Puritans, discovering it, and thinking he had found a sea, gave it the 

 present name. The outlet from this lake forms a small stream called the Town Brook, which is 

 about one mile long from the lake to its mouth in the center of the village, where it empties into 

 the ocean. Alewives, eels, and other salt-water fish formerly went up this small stream into the 



