HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 267 



18. The needed knowledge can be gained from two sources. The re- 

 sults of European experience and experimenting will be one ; experi- 

 ments and investigations of our own products in our own laboratories, 

 fields, and stables, another. The knowledge once obtained and set forth 

 in detailed reports will, in the natural course of things, be condensed 

 and diffused through the agricultural press, and applied by manufac- 

 turers and farmers, to the great benefit of all. 



19. The compilation of results of foreign work can be made by refer- 

 ence to the numerous German, French, and English scientific and agri- 

 cultural journals through which the original memoirs are scattered. 



20. The investigations would be properly divided into those on fish 

 as manure and those on fish as food for animals. 



21. The experiments on fish as manures would probably be made — 



1. In the laboratory, and consist of: a, analyses offish products; 

 b, investigations on their changes in composition and action in 

 the soil. 



2. In the field, and consist of rationally planned and carefully 

 conducted trials with different fertilizing materials, including 

 fish manures, on differeuD soils and with different crops, in order 

 to obtain specific answers to specific questions whose solution 

 is important. 



22. The experiments on fish as food for stock should be made — 



1. On farms, by feeding out fish with ordinary foods in simple 

 ways, as was done by Professor Farrington at uhe Maine State 

 College. 



2. In stables fitted up for trials with simultaneous laboratory 

 work, on the plan of the European experiments, above described. 

 The object of these trials would be to determine the digestibility 

 and nutritive effect of the materials employed. 



The urgent need of popular instruction. 



327. Here is a case where men with the best intentions in the world, 

 fishermen, manufacturers, and farmers, are suffering the waste of thou- 

 sands, and even millions of dollars' worth of material, bitterly needed to 

 supply the wants of worn-out soils and make bread and meat for hungry 

 men. The first step toward stopping this must be the getting of in- 

 formation. In Europe, governments, agricultural schools, societies, and 

 experiment stations would, in fact do, grapple the questions, and with the 

 best talent, aided b^' the best appliances that ingenuity, enthusiasm, 

 and money can procure, work at them until they are solved. But here, 

 we shall not get the needed knowledge until some educational in- 

 stitution, experiment station, or other agency, takes hold of the work 

 with a will and put it through. 



