PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES. 145 
The great desideratum in the salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast 
at the present time is the invention of a small odorless fertilizer 
plant, costing not more than $2,500 or $3,000, which can be installed 
at the various salmon canneries and salteries. The offal from the 
cannery could there be utilized and the product obtained would 
doubtless net a fair return on such an investment, while at the same 
time the present (in the aggregate) enormous waste would be stopped, 
and the waters adjacent to the canneries rendered far more agreeable 
to the fishes as well as to the people on shore. It is absolutely essen- 
tial that the plant shall be odorless, as the smell of the ordinary fer- 
tilizer establishment would be very offensive to persons visiting the 
cannery and would not enhance the demand for canned salmon. At 
the present time the cheapest plant available costs about $10,000, and 
very few canneries can afford to invest this sum of money in the dis- 
posal of their own offal alone. 
A recent issue (1915) of Fertilizers, of London, England, has. the 
followiag to say upon this subject: 
Investigations conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Harleshausen 
(Germany) go to show that, provided it is of good quality, fish meal forms asuitable 
supplementary feeding stuff for farm animals, especially for pigs. Unfortunately, 
however, it is made in cases from inferior products, such as decomposing fish and 
herring meal containing excessive quantities of salt, or it may be adulterated with 
bone meal and carcass meal. Fish meals made from low-grade material may have a 
harmful effect on the health of the animals to which they are fed. The German report 
goes on to say. that fish meal is commonly produced partly from fish offal and partly 
from whole fish condemned as unfit for human consumption, or which is unsalable 
owing to an excessive supply. Purchasers are warned that great care is necessary in 
buying fish meal, as, apart from the varied nature of the raw material from which it is 
made, the methods of preparation may produce wide differences in its composition. 
From the analyses of a large number of different samples of fish meal the proportion of 
different constituents was found to vary between the following limits: 
Water 5.90 to 18.91 per cent; crude protein, 38.83 to 58.96 per cent; digestible pro- 
tein, 30.43 to 54.52 per cent; fat, 1.55 to 14.03 per cent; phosphate of lime, 7.80 to 
36.16 per cent; salt, 0.70 to 20.10 per cent; ash, 20. 53 to 45.07 per cent; sand, 0.10 to 
- 6.05 per cent. 
Its richness in protein renders fish meal especially suitable for combination with 
foods, such as roots and potatoes, which possess a low percentage of that constituent. 
If fed in too large quantities or containing too high a percentage of oil the meal is liable 
to give a fishy taste to the meat product. It has been commonly accepted that high- 
grade fish meal should not contain more than 2 to 3 per cent of fat, but when the pro- 
portion of meal used in the ration is not too high it is considered (says the report) that 
there is no objection to using meals containing up to 4 percent. Among the mineral 
constituents contained in fish meal are phosphate of lime and salt, both of which are 
indispensable in the feeding of animals. In the case of salt, however, an excessive 
amount is valueless, and may even cause illness. For this reason the proportion of 
salt contained in fish meal should not exceed 3 per cent. The quantity of fish meal 
which may be fed with advantage to the different kinds of farm stock varies according 
to the class of stock and to the quality of the meal. It is suggested that the following 
amounts may be given daily if the meal is of good quality: Cattle, 2 pounds for every 
