CHAP. xvnr. FISH-MANURE. 311 



manufacture of tins manure on the coast of Newfound- 

 land, at Kerpon, near the eastern entrance of the Strait of 

 Belleisle, in a harbour which is greatly resorted to by the 

 vessels engaged in the cod fishery. This manufactory, 

 now in successful operation, is able to produce 8,000 or 

 10,000 tons of manure annually. Payen estimates the 

 total yearly produce of the cod fisheries of the North 

 American coast to be equal to about 1,500,000 tons of 

 fresh fish ; of this, one half is refuse, and is thrown into 

 the sea or left to decay on the shore, while if treated by 

 the process of Demolon, it would yield more than 150,000 

 tons of a manure nearly equal in value to the guano 

 of the Peruvian islands, which now furnish annually from 

 300,000 to 400,000 tons. If to the manure which might 

 be obtained from the cod fisheries of the Lower Provinces 

 we add that of many other great fisheries, we are 

 surprised at the immense resources for agriculture now 

 neglected, which may be drawn at a little expense from the 

 sea and even from the otherwise worthless refuse of another 

 industry. To this may be added vast quantities of other fish, 

 which at certain seasons and on some coasts are so abundant 

 that they are even taken for the express purpose of spread- 

 ing upon the adjacent lauds, and which would greatly ex- 

 tend the resources of this new manufacture. The oil, whose 

 extraction is made an object of economic importance in 

 the fabrication of manure from sardines in France, exists 

 in but very small quantities in the cod, but in the herring 

 it equals 10 per cent, of the recent fish, and in some other 

 species rises to 3'0 and 4 - per cent. 



' Mr. Duncan Bruce of Gaspe has lately been endeavour- 

 ing to introduce the manufacture of fish manure into 



