194 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



be seen that while the largest gross return is obtained by using a mixture 

 of fish (herring), phosphates, and compost, the net profit, by reason of 

 the cost of fish, is only second, and far below that obtained by the use of a 

 mixture of human excreta (X), phosphates, and compost, which moreover 

 produces the third best gross outturn ; this confirms one thesis of this note, 

 viz., that human excreta are among the best and certainly are the cheapest 

 of all the Japanese manures. It will be noticed also that phosphate of 

 lime is an invariable component of the rice manures, an ingredient never 

 added in India though bones are abundant. The effect of bean-cake is 

 noteworthy especially as regards net profits; this manure is now being 

 imported from Manchuria in immense quantities. The great value of 

 fish as a fertilizer for rice is very marked and emphasizes the importance 

 of developing its use in India. 



The importance of the subject must be the excuse for these 

 extracts. It is to be noted that paragraph 228 from the bulletin on 

 Japanese fisheries (and part of 102 from that on agriculture) relates 

 not to fish guano which had not then been made in India, but to 

 mere beach-dried sardine; it w^ill be noticed, however, that the 

 admixture of sand with beach-dried sardine was already a regular 

 method of deliberate adulteration. 



The letter X has been used in the above bulletins as an abbre- 

 viation for human excreta, solid and liquid. 



86. As regards the use of fish guano and fish as manure in this 

 Presidency the following information abstracted from Notes kindly 

 supplied by the Department of Agriculture, is interesting. 



Whole fish manure had to some extent been in use by the 

 Department, but when guano was introduced by the Fisheries 

 Department this was substituted as being free from oil; it has, 

 also, other advantages. It is used largely on the Central Farm at 

 Coimbatore for "garden" crops, such as millets and Cambodia 

 cotton, especially as a top dressing, just before irrigation, to the 

 ragi and cotton, at about 250 to 300 lb. of fish guano; this is in 

 addition to cattle manure ; when used with cholam it is mixed into 

 the soil at the time of sowing. It was also used for sugarcane on 

 the same farm and was successful until the present year when 

 results did not come up to those of previous years. Plots of sugar- 

 cane at the Samalkota farm in 1919-20 manured with guano of the 

 same value as castor cake gave very similar results in weight of 

 cane and jaggery to the plots manured with castor cake. At 

 Manganallur (Tanjore District) after five years' experiment, it was 



