398 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



41. The number of vessels in this district is 40, employing 400 men. 

 Capital, $200,000 J value of bait taken, $80,000. 



42. Those that are used as bait are slivered and salted in barrels ; 

 those taken for oil are taken ashore to the factories, where they are placed 

 in immense tanks and subjected to the direct action of steam ; they are 

 then put into hydraulic presses, operated by steam and water. 



43. There are no factories in this vicinity for making pogie-oil. Other 

 fish-oils are extracted at two factories, owned by A. W. Dodd & Co., and 

 George J. Tarr, both of which are at Gloucester. There are 14 pogieoil 

 factories in Maine ; most of them are in Bristol. 



44. The amount of oil manufactured each year at these factories is 

 1,000,000 gallons ; an average of 71,000 gallons each. 



45. During the fishing-season, in case they have the fish, these factories 

 could use 100,000 barrels of fish, or at the rate of 700 or 1,000 barrels 

 per day. 



47. The companies owning the factories usually own their fishing 

 vessels. 



48. Seventy -five fish, when fat, will produce a gallon of oil, that is, in 

 August and September. When they first come on the coast it will take 

 300 fish to a gallon. 



49. The scrap or pumice is the refuse after the oil is extracted from 

 the fish. This is sold for manure, at $15 per ton. 



50. About a gallon per barrel is obtained when they first come, say 

 in May. 



51. Four gallons to the barrel of fish in September is the average 

 yield. 



52. They do. 



54. It is sold all over the country: at Boston, Danvers, New Bedford, 

 and most of the large cities. 



55. Scrap is used mostl^y in the South as a fertilizer for cotton and 

 tobacco, and farmers everywhere use some of it. 



56. It is mostly used in currying leather, some for painting and for 

 machinery. 



57. Average price, 44 cents per gallon. 



58. Reports differ ; some think there are as many one year as another, 

 but that they keep off shore more ; others think they diminish. 



I herewith propose to add a few facts and a detailed description of 

 the business, that may be of some value and which are not covered by 

 the questions. The pogie business in this vicinity has ever been con- 

 ducted on a small scale, as the fish have been taken entirely for bait. 

 There was no large amount of capital invested until they were taken for 

 their oil and manure. Vessels are fitted from this port on the same 

 basis as the other fisheries : The owners of the vessels finding the vessel, 

 outfits, seine, and boats ; the crew going at the halves (as it is called), 

 that is, having the proceeds of one-half of the entire catch for their 

 services, the other half going to the vessel. A good vessel with boats 



