110 FISH FODDER FOR CATTLE. 



use of fish guano was not to spread it directly on the land, but 

 in the first place to use it as a fodder, and that the manure 

 obtained in that way was more available as plant food than 

 when applied as insoluble fish powder. 



Experiments made at the Highland and Agricultural Society's 

 stations have shown that fish guano, although it is rich in 

 nitrogen, is a very slow-acting manure, and suitable for supplying 

 nitrogen only to slowly-maturing crops, such as roots. These ex- 

 periments have also shown that the oil, which in many samples 

 of fish guano ranges from 7 to 10 per cent., is distinctly dis- 

 advantageous in preventing the manure from rotting in the soil 

 and yielding up its nitrogen to the crop. The oil itself con- 

 tributes nothing to the value of the manure, and is simply 

 wasted when applied to the land. There is therefore every 

 reason in favour of the view that fish meal — or fish guano, as it 

 is most improperly called — should be used in the first place as a 

 fodder, and that it should not be spread on the land until it has 

 been improved by passing through the digestive apparatus of 

 form stock. If farmers acted upon this principle, they would 

 give preference to the purer kinds of fish guano rich in oil. At 

 present, the kind of fish guano most in favour is that which 

 smells most strongly, and resembles in that respect the strong 

 smelling guanos from which it has borrowed the name. But 

 the strong smell given off by samples of fish manure is no 

 indication of their richness in manurial ingredients, it rather 

 indicates the presence of a considerable amount of rancid fish 

 oil, which distinctly detracts from the manurial value of the 

 substance. 



The composition of fish manure varies very much according 

 to the kind of fish material employed in its manufacture. In 

 the process of curing there is considerable loss, due to tearing 

 and disfigurement of fish, rendering them unfit for the market, 

 and there are the heads of fish which are chopped off in millions 

 at the curing stations. These two kinds of fish material, if 

 properly dried and ground to powder, would make a fodder 

 which for cleanness and wholesomeness would leave nothing to 

 be desired. It would form an excellent bye-fodder for young 

 growing stock, as it would be rich in phosphates, and would 

 thus supply the material for making bone. The viscera of fish, 

 if rapidly dried and prevented from putrefying, would produce a 

 fodder rich in oil and albumen, and would be useful for the 

 production of fat and milk. According as these ingredients 

 predominate in a fish maruire, we have the nitrogen ranging from 

 5 to 10 per cent., the phosphates from 15 to 50 per cent., and 

 the oil from 2 to 12 per cent., or more. From the great fish- 

 curing stations at Lofi'oden there is now being annually exported 

 about 50,000 tons of fish guano as it is called, and efforts are 



