HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 491 



4. The Cumberland Bone Compan'ifs worlcs. 



The following account of a similar establi.sbment in Maine is taken 

 bodily from the report of Boardmau & Atkins. TLe facts appear to have 

 been compiled from an article in the Lewiston Evening Journal, for 

 August 17, 1874. 



" Tbe Cumberland Bone Company, whose works are located in Booth 

 Bay, is more largely engaged in the use of fish-scrap in the manufacture 

 of commercial fertilizers than any other comi)any operating in this 

 State. The works of this company, formerly located in Cumberland 

 County, were removed to Booth Bay in lS73-'74, and altogether occupy 

 six buildings for the various purposes connected with their business. 

 They use South Carolina phosi)hatic rock, Kevassa, ground bones, fish, 

 scrap, sulphuric acid, salt cake, and a slight amount of deodorizing 

 compound. The phosphatic rock is heavy and solid, of a grayish color, 

 in lumps of all sizes, and is bought by the cargo. The Nevassa is red- 

 dish brown in color, quite tine, a little lumpy, but not at all solid, and 

 is a sort of guano from an island of the same name in the West Indies. 

 These two are ground together in tbe i)roportion of two parts of the 

 former to one of the latter; being ground to a tine powder which is of 

 a grayish cinnamon-brown color. TLe fish-scrap used by the company 

 is furnished by the Atlantic Oil Works, whose establishment is situated 

 very near the works of the former company. Before being used it is 

 treated with the deodorizing mixture — a substance of a very faint yel- 

 low color, of which, judging from its appearance, one would say that 

 gypsum might be the foundation. This mixture is made in one of the build- 

 ings of the company provided with a furnace and the necessary tanks 

 or retorts, and its preparation is a secret process, understood to have 

 been invented by the president of the company. It is said to have been 

 thoroughly tested and to work well, and it is thought will come into use 

 generally among the companies that handle fish-scrap. At present a 

 good many of them are troubled with injunctions because of the stench 

 arising from the accumulated scrap, which is constantly giving off its 

 ammonia. After being treated with this deodorizer the scrap is placed 

 jn barrels, and is quite inoffensive, a slight odor of ammonia being ob- 

 servable. Bones are ground raw ; to get them fine enough they go 

 itirough several mills, but they are not reduced near so fine as the phos- 

 phatic rock or Nevassa. The company sell large quantities of this bone 

 meal as feed. One of the buildings of the company is used for the man- 

 ufacture of sulphuric acid, of which sulphur and niter are the principal 

 ingredients. Salt cake is a residue from the distillation of niter as car- 

 ried on in the acid works. The mixing of the ingredients into super- 

 phosphate is performed in the mixing-room, an apartment of the main 

 manufacturing building. Over a circular floor, about eight feet in diam- 

 eter, revolve horizontally several arms with breaks and scoops attached. 

 Ingredients are poured upon the floor, the arms revolve, dense fumes 



