HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 205 



Statements by Professor Cook, of New Jersey. 



274. Prof. G. II. Cook, of New Jersey, in bis report as secretary of 

 the State Board of Agriculture, writes:* 



"The supply of material for fish guauo is almost iftilimited in this 

 State, and it only needs capital and skill to build up a business of great 

 irai)ortance to the State and profit to the manufacturer. On the coasts 

 of Long Island and of Maine, where the business has been carried on 

 for the oil which could be got from the fish, the residuum has been sold 

 at various prices, from $15 to $30 a ton, and has been a very popular 

 fertilizer with those who have used it. It is sought for by the manufac- 

 turers of superphosphate of lime, to mix with their product, and there 

 can be no doubt that it is very beneficial in such a mixture, giving quick- 

 ness to its action, while the superphosphate would add to the duration 

 of efficiency. When this source of manure is properly worked, it can be 

 made to supply all the guano needed in the State." 



Professor Cook says, also : t 



" While the most common mode of using these fish is in the hill or 

 furrow for corn, they are often employed in a compost with barn-yard 

 manure and a little lime. Those ivho have tried such a mixture say that 

 it is superior to any guano in the market. When applied on corn the crop 

 is considered as certain. Some farmers mix them with muck and apply 

 the compost upon wheat. This fertilizer is wonderfully rapid in its ef- 

 fects, showing changes in the growth of a crop in a few days after it has 

 been applied. But it is not a lasting manure. In a year or two this 

 stimulating effect is gone, and a second application is necessary. For 

 producing quick results it is so efficient that all farmers who have tried 

 it unite in testifying to its value." 



Further experience in Maine. — Messrs. Hinkley, Kenniston, Smith, and 



Collins. 



275. On pages 47 to 55 of the report of Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, 

 referred to, are some " Practical Notes on the Use of Fish Scrap as a Fer- 

 tilizer," which contain a number of items of experience of Maine farmers 

 wortli quoting: 



" Hon. J. T. Hinkley of Bluehill, in a private letter, writes : 'I have 

 never used but it in one way. I mix it with fine dirt or sand, and use it as 

 a top dressing on grass-land. A dressing of one ton of chum mixed with 

 five times that amount of dirt is about the quantity I would put on one- 

 half acre of land, and from that I have a good crop of grass for four to 

 five years without injury to the land. * * * There is an objection here 

 to dressing too heavily with scrap,as it injures the quality of the hayj but 

 using it at the rate of one ton to the acre, in a compost of three parts 

 loam, will produce no effects of this nature.' Now to correct the error 



* First Annual Report of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 1874, page 44. 

 t Geology of New Jersey, 1868, p. 498. 



