HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 141 



of tlie use of " porgy clium " as a food for slieep and poultry, stating 

 that be had used it for five years. To prepare it for food it is 

 prepared by drying it in the sun for two days on elevated raclcs, thus 

 expelling a large portion of the water. When thus dried it will keep for 

 an indefinitely long period. Mr. Wasson had kept a quantity in an 

 open barrel in his barn for at least five years. One barrel, costing $2, 

 was sufiicient to feed three sheep during the entire winter. Sheep thus 

 fed showed an average increase each of one pound and a quarter of 

 wool, while they were constantly fat and brought heavy lambs. Dens 

 also ate the scrap with avidity. Mr. Thomas Boyd of Boothbay, stated 

 that hens, ducks, and turkeys prefer it to corn, and become large and 

 heavy when fed upon it. It is customary to discontinue the scrap and 

 feed them on corn three or four weeks previous to killing them. Pro- 

 fessor Charles A. White inquired in regard to its effects upon the qual- 

 ity and flavor of the meat of animals fed Avith chum, stating that hogs 

 fed in the acorn or mast region of the west do not make such firm sweet 

 pork as those fed on corn. None of the members present were able to 

 answer this question. 



Mr. Luther Maddocks, of Boothbay, a leading manufacturer, stated 

 that if a demand should occur for scrap to be used as animal food, it 

 could be so pressed as to retain only 25 per cent, of water, and in that 

 form it would be more .suitable for transportation. Ordinarly it con- 

 tains about 50 per cent, of water. 



Apparently this subject deserves careful investigation. In the Nor- 

 wegian Department in Agricultural Hall at the International Exhibi- 

 tion of 187G were exhibited some biscuits made from "fish-flour," a 

 preparation invented by the late Anton Eosing, a prominent agricul- 

 tural chemist of Norway. These biscuits were in good condition after 

 having been kept for ten years in an unsealed jar. They were intended 

 to be applicable to the uses of soldiers, miners, and farmers, to whom a 

 supply of fish, other than salted, is beyond reach. The editor of the 

 American Agriculturalist suggests that a similar process might be em- 

 ployed in utilizing the refuse of the oil manufactories as food for stock.* 

 The proper i^reparation of this material for feed, either alone or mingled 

 with bran, corn-meal, or other products of grain, would doubtless be a 

 great economy, both for feeding and enriching the manure.t 



L.— THE MENHADEN AS A BAIT FISH. 



38. — The use of menhaden for bait. 



Menhaden as cod hait. 



195. Menhaden bait is extensively used in the cod and mackerel fish- 

 eries in New England and the British Provinces. Its popularity is no 

 doubt chiefly due to the ease with which it may be obtained in large 



* American Agriculturist, Vol. XXXV, 1876, p. 314. 



t The value of menhaden as a food for animals is discusFed more in detail by Profes- 

 sor Atwater in the succeeding part of this report. 



