HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 259 



small amount of uon-nitiogenons matter consumed, the food consiHted 

 in a large proportion of tbe liigbly nitrogenous codfish ; and in both of 

 these cases wo had not only a very good proportion of increase to food 

 consumed, but tlie pigs in these i)ens were very fat and well ripened; 

 and hence a large proportion of their increase would be real dry sub- 

 stance. * * * This result is in itself interesting, and it may perhaps 

 point to a comparatively greater efficiency in the already animalized 

 proteine compounds supplied in the codfish than in those derived, as in 

 the other cases, from the purely vegetable diets."* 



Other European experience. 



321. In 1856 Professor Stoeckhardt, of Tharand, Saxony, who was one 

 of the first chemists to recognize the value of fish guano, and has done 

 more than any other one in Europe to encourage its manufacture and 

 use, received a sample from Norway, which, as he says, "looked so in- 

 viting that I tried it for fodder also." He fed it to a half-year-old pig, 

 which ''did exceptionally well on this northern food." 



In the northern part of Norway, when during the long winters the 

 supply of hay and straw gives out, cattle are fed upon dried fish. They 

 do poorly on this diet alone, of course, but recover very quickly when 

 the spring pasturage comes.t 



Success of Blaine farmers in feeding fish to sheep. 



322. The value of fish as food for domestic animals has been attested 

 by experience of intelligent farmers in our own country, as is illustrated 

 by the following extracts from Boardman and Atkins' report, from which 

 so many quotations have already been made : 



"As early as 18G4, if not in fact previous to that date, the attention of 

 members of the board of agriculture [of Maine], and farmers generally, 

 was called to the matter of the value of fish pomace or scrap as a feed- 

 ing stuff for sheep, swine, and poultry. In a communication to the 

 board| Mr. William D. Dana, of Perry, spoke in high terms of its value 

 as a feed for domestic animals, in which he said : 'Fish pomace, or the 

 residuum of herring after the oil is pressed out, is greedily eaten by 

 sheep, swine, and fowl ; and probably pogy chum would be eaten as 

 well. Smoked alewives and frost fish also furnish a food palatable to 

 cattle. Sheep thrive well, get fat, and yield heavier fleeces when fed on 

 this pomace than when fed on anything else produced in this section of 

 the State. Careful and observing farmers, who have fed it, assert that 

 it is of equal value with good hay, ton per ton, and that its value for 

 manure is in no degree diminished by passing it through the living mill, 

 and thus reducing it to a much more convenient state for applying. If 

 it could be sufficiently dried, without other substances, to prevent putre- 



» Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc, 1st Ser. XIV,>1853, p. 527. 



t Meinert. Travels ia Norway. Chem. Ack., 1870, xi, p. 45. 



t Agriculture of Maine, 1864, p. 43. 



