HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 491 



4. The Cumberland Bone Company's ivories. 



The following account of a similar establishment in Maine is taken 

 bodily from the report of Boardmau & Atkins. The facts appear to have 

 been compiled from au article iu the Lewiston Evening Journal, for 

 August 17, 1874. 



" Tbe Cumberland Bone Company, whose works are located in Booth 

 Bay, is more largely engaged in the use of fish scrap in the manufacture 

 of commercial fertilizers than any other company operating in this 

 State. Tbe works of this company, formerly located iu Cumberland 

 County, were removed to Booth Bay in 1873-'74, and altogether occupy 

 six buildings for the various purposes connected with their business. 

 They use South Carolina phosphatic rock, Nevassa, ground bones, fish, 

 scrap, sulphuric acid, salt cake, and a slight amount of deodorizing 

 compound. The phosphatic rock is heavy and solid, of a grayish color, 

 iu lumps of all sizes, aud is bought by the cargo. The Nevassa is red- 

 dish brown in color, quite fine, a little lumpy, but not at all solid, and 

 is a sort of guano from an island of the same name in the West Indies. 

 These two are ground together in the proportion of two parts of the 

 iormer to one of the latter; being ground to a fine powder which is of 

 a grayish cinnamon-brown color. Tbe fish-scrap used by the comjiany 

 is furnished by the Atlantic Oil Works, whose establishment is situated 

 very near the works of the fornier company. Before being used it is 

 treated with the deodorizing mixture — a substance of a very faint yel- 

 low color, of which, judging from its appearance, one would say that 

 gypsum might be thefouudation. This mixture ismadeiuoneof thebuild- 

 ings of the company provided with a furnace and the necessary tanks 

 or retorts, and its preparation is a secret process, understood to have 

 been invented by the president of the comi^auy. It is said to have been 

 thoroughly tested and to work well, and it is thought will come into use 

 generally among the companies that handle fish-scrap. At present a 

 good many of them are troubled with injunctions because of the stench 

 arising from the accumulated scrap, which is constantly giving oft' its 

 ammonia. After being treated with this deodorizer the scrap is placed 

 pi barrels, and is quite inoffensive, a slight odor of ammonia being ob- 

 servable. Bones are ground raw; to get them fine enough they go 

 ;'*jrough several mills, bub they are not reduced near so fine as tbe pbos- 

 l)hatic rock or Nevassa. The company sell large quantities of this bone 

 meal as feed. One of the buildings of the company is used for the man- 

 ufacture of sulphuric acid, of which sulphur and niter are the principal 

 ingredients. Salt cake is a residue from the distillation of niter as car- 

 ried on in the acid works. Tbe mixing of the ingredients into super- 

 l^hosphate is performed iu the mixing-room, an apartment of tbe main 

 manufacturing building. Over a circular floor, about eight feet in diam- 

 eter, revolve horizontally several arms with breaks and scoops attached. 

 Ingredients are poured upon the floor, the arms revolve, dense fumes 



