440 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



per tbousaud aud from that ail the way to 18 gallons. The average 

 yield is from 4 to 6 gallons per thousand. Some seasons the fish are so 

 poor we can barely pay expenses. We then are obliged to pay low 

 prices for fish — say from $1.25 to $1.50 per thousand. The fishermen 

 at those prices cannot make day wages unless the fish are very plenty. 

 The consequence is, when the fish are scarce the men leave the business, 

 and the vessels have to lay up until other men can be found. ' This is one 

 great drawback to the business, aud many factories have been obliged 

 to give up the business on account of it. 



49. This all depends on the quality of the fish, whether fat or poor, 

 aud will vary from 10 to 150 gallons, and in some rare cases as high as 

 250 gallons to one ton. 



50. This all depends on the quality of the fish. Some days a net will 

 take fish that will make 15 gallons, aud perhaps the next haul the fish 

 taken might not make 5 gallons; but these extremes are rare, except 

 late in the fall, when the fish are moving south aud come together from 

 different localities; then we are as liable to get poor fish as fat ones. 



51. In this vicinity, during July, August, and September, we get the 

 fish only that come into the sound for their feeding ground, and which 

 fat after thej' get here. If they are poor, we have the largest catch in 

 June and July. If they are increasing in fatness or yield of oil, we can- 

 not capture them sucessfully until August and September. The fat fish 

 in the sound are usually wild and hard to take until late ; this may be 

 owing somewhat to the fact that the feed is plentiful and low in the 

 water. When we have an unusual dry season, so very dry that cress are 

 almost a failure, then we are pretty sure of fat fish and an unusual 

 quantity of jelly-fish floating on the water, which perhaps may be one 

 source of supply of feed. On the other hand, in very wet seasons we find 

 them below the average in yield of oil. 



52. The northern fish always yield more than the southern. The fish 

 appear here and farther north nine seasons out of ten " spring poor," 

 as the farmer terms his cattle that have been exposed to the inclement 

 weather and fed on coarse fodder ; but after they get here, if their feed 

 is plenty, they fatten very fast. This can be proved by the past season. 

 During the months of May and June one million of fish would make 

 only eight hundred gallons of oil; in August, the yield was from eight 

 to ten gallons per thousand, and in September ten to twelve gallons per 

 thousand. 



51. The market for oil is principally in Iifew York and Boston. The 

 dealers in those cities have a very extensive trade all over this country, 

 aud large quantities are shipped to Europe. 



55. The scrap is used very extensively in a raw state by the farmers 

 aud tobacco- growers of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Loug 

 Island, and New York State. It is a standard manure and fertilizer 

 when used judiciously by those who understand how to use it. The 

 principal market is with the superphosphate manufactureis. When 



