HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 483 



29. Yes. 



30. Wild ducks, crabs, and barnacles destroy spawn and young fish. 



31. Worms and lampreys are often found attached to the outside and 

 on the gills; in few cases in the mouth. 



32. Sharks and salt-water catfish attack these fish. 



33. No. 



34. They have been captured in nets by accident, but the fishermen 

 here only fish for finer kinds of fish. 



35. Nets for catching other fish are from 100 to 200 yards long and 10 

 feet deep. 



36. None. 



39. Yes ; on the morning tide. 



40. Yes; north and west wind have effect on them. 



42. These fish are used as bait and as food for hogs and chickens, or 

 as manure. 



43. None. 



79. Statement of D. P. Kane, Matagorda, Tex., March 1, 1874. 



Capt. William Nichols, a pilot residing at Saluria, Tex., informs mo 

 that in September, 1872, great quantities of pogies drifted upon the 

 beach at Saluria, and that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Mata- 

 goixla Bay were full of them; he did not observe whether they were fat 

 or not. 



I have been engaged in pogy fishing in Maine for eight years ; have 

 fished from Florida to Mexico, but have never seen or heard of men- 

 haden ever being south of Cape Hatteras, with the above exception. 



APPENDIX O. 



ISnSCELLANOUS ITEMS REGARDING THE USE OP FISH FOR MANURE. 



1. The earliest printed account of the use of menhaden for a fertilizer, being 

 an extract from an article hy Ezra L' Hommcdieu, 1801. 



Experiments made by using the fish called menhaden, or mossbunkers, 

 as a manure have succeeded beyond expectation, and will likely become 

 a source of wealth to farmers living on such parts of the sea-coasts where 

 they can be taken with ease and in great abundance. These fish abound 

 with oil and blood more than any other kind of their size. They are not 

 used for food, except by negroes, in the English West India Islands; 

 and the price is so low that it will not answer to cure them for market. 

 They are easily taken in the month of June, when they come near the 

 shores in large and numerous schools. These fish have been used as a 

 manure in divers ways and on different soils. 



