DIGEST OF STATE REPORTS. 379 



four in operation in 1873, a total of thirty-six doing business during the 

 season. 



In his preliminary report, Secretary Samuel L. Boardman thus alludes 

 to an investigation made by him of the menhaden and herring fisheries 

 of the coast of Maine : 



In August last, in accordance with a recommendation of the board, I spent two 

 ■weeks in visiting and inspecting the establishments along our coast where the fish 

 known as menhaden {Brevoortia menhaden) are manufactured into oil. Commencing 

 my investigations at Booth Bay and Bristol, they were extended eastward to Lubec and 

 EastiJort, where the herring is the fish most used for oil, the residue of which is used to 

 some extent as a. feed for sheep and poultry. In a discussion on the value of the scrap or 

 residue from the oil-factories as a fertilizer, at the meeting of the board at VViscasset, it 

 was suggested that this might be prepared in such a way as to be transported to the 

 farms in the interior of the State ; and one of the main points in my inquiries was in 

 reference to this particular. In Booth Bay there are five companies or firms engaged 

 in this business, and in Bristol and Bremen seven companies, while in the towns of 

 Sedgwick, Blue Hill, Surry, &c.,are a number of companies doing a smaller amount of 

 business. During the past season the Bristol companies made 881,000 barrels of oil, and 

 the Booth Bay companies 174,000, a total of 555,000 barrels. From this 18,500 tons of 

 scrap were made, for which $11 per ton is obtained at the works, giving a revenue of 

 $203,500; the total product from-both items being $631,475 for the year 1874. 



Almost the entire amount of scrap produced is used in the manufacture of superphos- 

 phate in this and other States, and a large portion of it finds a market in the Southern 

 States. During my investigations of this subject I obtained a large mass of facts in 

 regard to the natural history and economy of the menhaden and herring, together 

 with many statements from farmers who have used the scrap as a fertilizer, either in a 

 direct manner or as a compost, and also as a provender for sheep. I also obtained some 

 of the chum, the use of which, as a feed for sheep, baa been eo highly commended, and 

 have forwarded the same to Professor Farrington, superintendent of the State college 

 farm, who is now carrying on an experiment in feeding it in connection with Indian 

 corn, and the fish-scrap is being experimented with under my direction as a fertilizer. 



In a discussion on the subject of porgy chum as a feed and fertilizer, 

 Mr. Wasson gave the results of some five years' experiments with it as 

 a feed for sheep and poultry. Chum is the refuse of menhaden, which 

 are caught along the entire coast of Maine. The oil is expressed and 

 the residue used in a green state as a fertilizer. When used as food it 

 is prepared by drying in the sun on elevated racks for two days, by 

 which process the water is expelled, after which it will keep for an 

 indefinite period. One barrel of it, costing $2, is sufficient for 3 sheep 

 during the entire winter. Mr. Wasson's sheep gave an average increase 

 of 1^ pounds of wool per head from the use of this chum. The sheep 

 kept in good order and brought heavy lambs. Hens eat it with avidity. 

 Mr. Percival stated that he had experimented with it as a fertilizer and 

 had found it a valuable manure. 



Mr. George B. Sawyer thus speaks of the original boundary and 

 extent of territory within the county of Lincoln : 



The county of Lincoln, at the time of its organization in 1760, embraced about seven- 

 eighths of the whole State, being all except the counties of York and Cumberland, 

 which then included Oxford and a part of Franklin and Androscoggin. Its western 

 boundary, started at Small Point, the eastern point of Casco Bay; thence running 

 northwesterly on said bay to New Meadows Creek or River; up said river and across 

 Stevens's carrying place to Merrymeeting Bay; thence up the Androscoggin River 30 

 miles; and thence l)y a straight line north two degrees west, to the utmost northern 

 limits of the province, which limit formed its northern boundary, its eastern the prov- 

 ince of Nova Scotia, its front resting on the ocean. It was, indeed, a magnificent 

 domain ; an empire in itself, larger than all the rest of New England. Its shire-town 

 was Pownalborough, which was incorporated in the same year, and included the pres- 

 ent towns of Wiscasset, Dresden, Alna, and Perkins, the last named being Swan Island, 

 in the Kennebec River, and now a part of the county of Sagadahoc. * * * 



During her corporate existence of more than a century, the county of Lincoln has 

 witnessed a stupendous development within her original domain. She has seen a dozen 

 counties spring up within her original territory, many of them outstripping her in 



