218 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Success of fish guano as a fertilizer hi Europe. 



288. A few words upon tbe use of fish guano in Europe may be in 

 place here. 



In 1855 Professor Stoeckhardt, of Tharand, wrote* of fish-refuse as 

 a manure : 



•'Fish forms the basis of all natural guanos, since it forms the sole 

 food of the sea-birds (and seals, &c.), from whose excrement guano is 

 formed. * * * AVhat is accomplished naturally here by the diges- 

 tive processes of the bird, pulverization, fine division and concentra- 

 tion, must be done artificially by the ingenuity of the chemist. If the 

 chemical and mechanical operations necessary for working over the 

 crude material rapidly, on a large scale, into a product of good quality 

 and at low price, can be devised, then it is for the interest of agricul- 

 ture to be put as quickly as possible in possession of this product, 

 whose office it may be to break the monopoly held by guano." 



After describing at length the manufacture, composition, and fer- 

 tilizing effects of materials j)repared from fish, he Marmly recom- 

 mends them to the farmers of Germany as the " guano of the future.". 



At this time the fish guano was just coming into the European mar- 

 ket ; but little was known from experience or experiment as to its actual 

 value for farming. In 1869, after it had stood the tests of repeated 

 chemical analyses, gone through the trial of manifold field experiments, 

 and run the gauntlet of practical farmers' experience, with ever-increas- 

 ing popularity and favor, Stoeckhardt wrote again : 



" Fish guano has entirely fulfilled the prophecy which I made for it 

 fourteen years ago, at its first entrance into the commercial world, 

 • * * and it is to be desired in the interest of agriculture that its 

 manufacture may assume ever-increasing dimensions." * * * 



The raanufacture of fish fertilizers in the United States. 



289. We may now return to the manufacture of fish fertilizers in the 

 United States. 



At present nearly all the material in our market is made from the men- 

 haden, which after the extraction of the oil leaves a residue which is 

 prepared in various forms for fertilizers. 



The attempt of Mr. Lewis in East Haven, Conn., in 1848, to make a 

 concentrated fertilizer from menhaden has been referred to. The first 

 practical success in this direction was attained by Mr. W. D. Hall in 

 1853. "He discovered how the oil might be extracted from the fresh 

 fish in a few hours' treatment, leaving the 'pomace' or 'scrap' in such 

 a condition of half-dryness that it could be stored or barreled and trans- 

 ported at once, or could be further dried by exposure to the sun and 

 converted by grinding into ' fish guano.'" The history of the manu- 

 facture of oil from menhaden since that time is given very fully in Mr. 

 Goode's report on the menhaden. 



* Der Chemische Ackeramann, 1855, /. 236. 



