142 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
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 great impetus has been given to the industry during the last two 
years, owing to the big demand which has come from the farmers 
and poultrymen for fish meal or scrap, which, after it has been mixed 
with other ingredients, can be fed to cattle, hogs, and poultry. Ex- 
periments carried out at various agricultural experiment stations, 
both here and in Europe, show conclusively that this class of food in- 
creases the appetite of the animal, and consequently the weight, 
while it does not affect the flavor of the flesh of the animals. 
SHIPPING FRESH SALMON DIRECT TO CONSUMER. 
An important new feature m the salmon industry is the shipping 
of individual salmon direct to consumers by express, or, for certain 
short distances, by parcel post, for a certain fixed sum, which in- 
cludes the fish itself and the cost of delivering same to the buyer. 
This business began in Tacoma, Wash., in 1914, and those who 
originated it advertised throughout the country that they would 
ship a fresh salmon to any express office in the United States (except 
Southern Express), express prepaid, for $1.25, weight 7 to 8 pounds. 
In 1915 the cost, delivered east of the Mississippi River, was raised 
to $1.50 each, the old rate of $1.25 still being in force for shipments 
west of the Mississippi River. The price has since been increased 
to $2.50 for any place in the United States. The number of shippers 
has increased very much, and the business is now carried on from a 
number of places in Washington, Oregon, and California. 
In shipping an individual fish, it is packed in a box containing 20 
pounds of cracked ice. These boxes are collected by the express 
companies and are generally sent out in their own regular cars 
attached to trains leaving in the evening. About every 15 to 20 
hours the box is opened and from 5 to 7 pounds, depending upon 
the weather, of cracked ice added to the box to make up the loss 
through melting. 
As the Post Office Department will not accept packages in which 
ice is used for preserving fish, the use of the parcel post for ship- 
ments of individual fish is limited to the first postal zone (up to 50 
miles from the initial point), except in winter, when the postmasters 
are authorized, in their discretion, to accept shipments for the 
second zone (50 to 100 miles from the initial point). In making 
fresh-fish shipments by parcel post, frozen fish are generally used. 
Most of the orders come from the Middle West, where fresh fish 
are not abundant, but orders are received from all sections of the 
country. 
The success met with in shipping fresh salmon led to a considerable 
expansion of the industry, with the result that now one can obtain 
not only a fresh salmon, but also may purchase salt, smoked, end 
kippered salmon, salt codfish, and fresh halibut, smelt, crabs, and 
other sea food in their season, 
