HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 217 



the Norwegian products a very difficult matter. The bulk of the pro- 

 ducts have, I understand, been sold in Germany by Mr. Mcinert, who has 

 from the first bad control of the trade in that country. Mr. Meiuert 

 has managed the business in such a straightforward and rational man- 

 ner as to secure not only a large personal profit but also the confidence 

 of the titgricultural public. This he has done by personally aiding and 

 encouraging the manufacture of an article of high grade and uniform 

 quality, by selling it on the basis of guaranteed analysis, and thus rec- 

 ommending to the good sense of the most enlightened farmers. 



According to U(§harain {Wurz Diet. Ch. I, 123G), a Frenchman, M. 

 Rohart, has established a manufactory of fish guano at Lofoden. This is 

 probably the one referred to by Herr Meinert as "an incomplete imita- 

 tion" of the previous manufactories there, and in aid of which the French 

 Government gave a subvention of 100,000 francs. That so large a gift 

 should be made to aid this enterprise is proof of the importance ascribed 

 to it by the French Government. 



According to the "Revue Scientifique," August 25, 1875, M, Levy has 

 lately started an establishment at the French island of St. Pierre, in the 

 Crulf of St. Lawrence, for the purpose of utilizing the gurry and offal of 

 the codfish, &c., taken on the banks of Newfoundland. All the heads, 

 entrails, &c., are gathered in, and after the extraction orf the oil the 

 residue is made into gelatine and fertilizers. 



How important such an industry may be made appears from the fact 

 that the waste material of the fisheries of that region is estimated at 

 120,000,000 pounds per annum. 



Manvfacture of glue and removal of oil in preparation of Norwegian fish 



guano. 



287. It is worthy of note, that in the European factories the liquid 

 coming from the steamed or boiled fish, and containing considerable 

 nitrogenous matter in solution, is utilized for the manufacture of a 

 low quality of glue, while in this country the practice is to throw it 

 away. 



The Norwegian guanos have generally smaller i^ercentages of fat 

 than occur in the menhaden guanos in this country. But even this 

 small amount is objected to by many, on the ground that it retards the 

 fertilizing action. According to Vohl, this objection has been removed 

 by Radde, of Hamburg, by the manufacture of so-called fatless, evapo- 

 rated, polar fish guano, in which a minimum of 8 per cent, of non-vol- 

 atile nitrogen and of 12 per cent, of phosphoric acid is guaranteed, and 

 actual analysis of a sample gave a considerable excess above this mini- 

 mum. This article is in the form of a fine dry powder, of a yellowish 

 color, with a comparatively feeble odor. It absorbs water rapidly, and 

 when moist putrefies readily at 52°, with copious formation of ammonia. 

 It yields on ignition 37 to 38 per cent, of ash. 



