492 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



arise from the chemical action, and in a very short space of time the 

 ])rocess is complete. The arms stir the mixture together perfectly au<l 

 collect it in the middle of the table, whence it is dumped into the base- 

 ment. Here it is piled up, and as soon as convenient it is passed through 

 a long cylinder, where it is dried by hot air. It is then passed through 

 a long series of revolving sieves, and all the coarser i)articles, which 

 consist altogether of pieces of fish, are dried and ground over again. 

 The superphosphate is then barreled. It is a very dark gray, almost 

 black in some specimens, but drying oft' to a light gray. In some lots 

 there is a brownish tinge. In mechanical texture the superphosphate 

 in the barrels is not perfectly fine — a great quantity of bits of fish re- 

 maining unchanged in it. The proportion of the different ingredients 

 used in the manufacture of superphosj)hate at these works cannot be 

 stated, and is ijrobably one of the secrets of the business. A gentle- 

 man who has furnished much iiiforuuitiou for this paper says that 

 "one ton of fish scrap furnished the ammonia for three tons of super- 

 phosphate; the larger portion of the other ingredients being Nevassa, 

 which costs about $14 per ton, and gypsum, which costs 75 cents per 

 ton." The capital stock of this company is $200,000, and it gives em- 

 ployment to about fifty men. It made in 1874, 10,000 tons of commer- 

 cial fertilizer, valued at $450,000. The works are regarded as the most 

 complete of the kind in the country, are provided with a seventy-five- 

 horse-power engine, and with extensive fixtures for the manufacture of 

 sulphuric acid, which when in operation will make six tons of acid per 

 day. The entire cost of the buildings and machinery was $110,000. 

 It is obvious that these works were located here with good reason. One 

 sees a car moved by steam ascending from the pogy-oil factory loaded 

 with chum. It ])asses upon scales, is weighed and then moves on over 

 an immense bin into which it is dumped. A chemical mixture is added 

 to the heap to prevent the escape of ammonia and to kill the offensive 

 effluvia." — [Boardman & Atkins, ojx cit., pp. 38-40. 



5. The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company''s WorJis. 



The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company of Xew Haven was established in 

 1852, by William D. Hall, of Wallingfonl, Conn.; and is the oldest es- 

 tablishment of its kind in the United Spates. It was founded under Mr. 

 Hall's patent for drying fish scrap by solar heat. Scrap was purchased 

 from the oil manufacturers of INIaine and Long Island, and, having been 

 prepared for agricultural purpose's, -was sold to the Connecticut farmers 

 ior thirty cents a bushel. This fertilizer was not essentially different 

 from that uow^ sold by the same company as "dry-ground sciai)." In 

 1854 the manufactory was removed from Wallingfcrd to the banks of 

 the Poquanuock River, in Groton, and the company began buying fish 

 and making oil. In 1857 it was again removed to Pine Island, where 



