71 



the Japanese loses no opportunity of ascertaining- the worhl's needs and 

 of trying" to supply them. 



152. Fish Oils. — These are whale oil, cod and cod-liver oil, shark, 

 and dog-fish, herring and sardine oil. Herring oil is easily first in 

 quantity, being above one-half of all oils ; it is almost wholly produced 

 in Hokkaido where the herring is steamed and pressed ; sardine oil 

 takes the next place, about one-fifth of the total production, cod and 

 shark oil together yield another fifth, and the other oils a tenth. Oil 

 is only refined for home use ; the bulk of the oil is exported unrefined. 

 The processes and plant in use are of modern character and the 

 product of an excellent quality ; at the Milan Exhibition and in the 

 Agricultural and Commercial Museum at Tokyo I saw many exhibits 

 of the best quality. One Yokohama firm, founded in 1893, which has 

 now many international medals, has a factory covering over 2^ acres 

 with 2 large engines, 20 cooking furnaces, 30 vats, each of 10 tons, 

 for containing the oil, 40 filters, 7 hydraulic and 27 hand presses, 4 

 depositing vats holding together 350 tons, and employing 95 men and 

 48 women ; its exhibits at Milan were excellent. The crude oil is 

 bought from various places and is refined at the factory or exported : 

 its total annual output averages 10,780,000 lb. Another firm 

 (up-country) established in 1899 deals in whale oil : its boats catch 

 whales in Korean waters, and it has three factories and several receiv- 

 ing stations in Korea ; their annual produce is said to average a million 

 gallons. There are many other factories doing a good business. The 

 official statistics of fish oil production seem defective as to total 

 produce ; the export however for 1904 seems to have been about 16"7 

 million lb., value about Rs. ]2-7 lakhs; in 1900 it was lH-8 million 

 lb., worth 13-6 lakhs. There is evidently a field for industrial 

 enterprise in Madras. 



153. Manures. — This is a most important product, fish fertiliser 

 being the most highly valued of all manures in Japanese agriculture 

 (see Agricultural Note). The herring and sardine are the fish almost 

 solely used, herring being enormously in excess of sardine now 

 that the latter fish is more extensively used as food, whether fresh, 

 salted, diied or canned. The herrings are chiefly caught on the 

 coasts of Hokkaido, the summer herring being much fatter than the 

 spring herring which is in spawn. The oil is extracted by steam 

 heating and pressure, and the scrap is then sent out as manure. The 

 annual product is about 110,000 tons, of which nine-tenths to four- 

 fifths are herring and from Hokkaido; the value is from Es. 112 to 

 Rs. 120 per ton or 20 to IS"? lb. per rupe3, the latter price being the 

 latest (1904) ascertained. The productive as well as pecuniary value 

 of this manure, chiefly nitrogenous but also largely phosphatic, as 

 proved in Japanese agriculture (see Agricultural Note) which consumes 

 practically the whole product; strongly commends its development 



