HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 199 



almost 45 bushels to an acre ; tho most exuberant crop of tbis graiu 

 which I have known in JSew England." * 



In 1819, llcv. D. D. Field spoke of the use of fish as manure as follows : 

 " The most efficacious manure in the vicinity of the Sound consists of 

 the white-fish which visit the shores in numerous numbers in June and 

 the first part of July. These began to be used for manure in Middlesex 

 in 1801 and 1802. They are carried as soon as taken and spread upon 

 the land and plowed in ; or are thrown into heaps, mixed and covered 

 with earth or turf and suffered to i^ulverize ; and are then spread upon 

 the ground as suits the convenience of the farmers. In cither mode the 

 effect even on dry and poor land is wonderful, and though it was at first 

 apprehended by many that after two or three crops they would leave the 

 land poorer than they found it, experience has hitherto proved this 



apprehension to be groundless. 



******* 



"Eight thousand are requisite to dress an acre. They have been sold 

 lately for a dollar and a half per thousand." t 



Dr. DeKay in the Natural History of New York, 1842, says : 



'' The use of this fish as a manure is well known in the counties of 

 Suffolk, Kings and Queens, where it is a source of great wealth to the 

 farmer who lives upon the sea coast. They are used in various ways : 

 For Indian corn, two or three are thrown on a hill ; for wheat, they are 

 thrown broadcast on the field and plowed under, although it is not un- 

 common to put them in layers alternately with common mold, and when 

 decomposed spread it like any other compost. Its effects in renovating 

 old grass fields, when spread over with these fish at the rate of about 

 two thousand to the acre, are very remarkable." 



In 1853, Mr. Ker B. Hamilton, governor of Newfoundland, in a 

 " Dispatch to the Duke of Newcastle " on " the Eefuse of the Cod 

 Fishery of Newfoundland as convertible into a Portable Manure," says : 



" In this island the manure universally applied to the soil is fish, con- 

 sisting of the superabundant herrings and caplins in the process of 

 decomposition, and generally without any earthy admixture ; and the 

 heads, bones, and entrails of codfish, after having been decomposed and 

 formed into a compost with clay or peat-bog earth. This manure * * * 

 when applied to the thin, gravelly, unpromising soil (on the Island of 

 Newfoundland) yields crops of grass and potatoes which, in growth and 

 productiveness cannot be surpassed elsewhere." | 



Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, in their excellent report on " The Men- 

 haden and Herring Fisheries of Maine," § to which we shall have frequent 



* Dwight's Travels, III, 1822, p. 513, 514, 516. 



t A I Statistical Account | of the | County of Middlesex, | in | Connecticut. | = | By 

 David D. Field. | = | Published by the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, J 

 Middletown, Conn. | Printed by Clark &. Lyman. | .... | April, 1819. 8 vo, p. 153. 



t Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc, 1st ser., XIV, 1853, p. 393. 



§ Agrictilture of Maine, 1875-6, page 1. 



