200 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



occasion to referj say : " More than thirty years ago, before fish oil had 

 become a marketable commodity, the farmers of our eastern coast [Maine] 

 ■were in thehabitof using the fish whole indifferent forms. In some cases, 

 two or three fish were put in a hill for corn, and covered before the corn 

 was planted j in others they were covered b3' being thrown into tbe furrow 

 as the land was being plowed, while in instances less frequent they were 

 made into a compost and applied as a top-dressing. These were the 

 ruder forms of using fish as a fertilizer, and generally practiced before 

 the manufacture of oil and tbe consequent accumulation offish scrap." 

 A method similar to the above was formerly in use among the farmers 

 of ISTew Jersey. Prof. George H. Cook, in his report on the geology 

 of that State, says the practice there was to plow a furrow alongside 

 the rows of corn, deposit the fish, and then turn the furrow back again, 

 covering them. In this way the farmers carried their corn through to 

 maturity, and good crops were gathered from the poorest and lightest 

 soils in the State. A Massachusetts correspondent of the " Country Gen- 

 tleman " (vol. 5, page 152) says the application of fish compost "appears 

 to ameliorate the effects of drouth." 



Use at the present day. 



270. Mr. Goode states : " even at this day the fish are often applied 

 to the soil in a crude state, though the manufactured fertilizers are su- 

 perseding it in most localities. Gov. Caleb Lyon tells me that two or 

 three times every summer Stateu Island is visited by smacks loaded 

 with menhaden, which are quickly bought up by the farmers. In plant- 

 ing corn, they put two or three fish in each hill, and so with potatoes ; 

 when they plant potatoes in rows, a coutftiuous line of menhaden is 

 placed in the bottom of the furrow, head to tail. In 1871, according to 

 Mr. J. M. K. Southwick,many menhaden were sold for manure iu Ehode 

 Island at 30 cents a barrel. During the five years jprevious he had sold 

 about 75 barrels for this purpose." 



Until very lately it has been, certainly, and for aught I know is still, 

 the custom of farmers on the Connecticut coast to use whole fish as a 

 top-dressing. 



48. Fish scrap as manure. 



The inception of its use. — Experience in Maine. 



271. As a result of the profitable utilization of fish for the manufacture 

 of oil, the use of the whole fish as a fertilizer has gradually and almost 

 entirely ceased, and given place to the refuse from which the oil has 

 been expressed or otherwise extracted. This is known in its crude 

 state as "fish scrap," " fish pomace," or "chum," and when more care- 

 fully prepared, as " dry fish," " dry ground fish," and " fish guano." 

 Still farmers have been slow to avail themselves of this more concen- 

 trated material. Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, in the report referred 

 to, say : 



