AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 269 



which are cotton seed, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, tankage, 

 meat scraps, slaughter-house refuse, etc. 



The product of fish scrap, reduced to basis of dried weight, produced 

 from 1873 to 1900 apijroximates 1,018,000 tons, or an annual average of 

 37,428 tons. As it is estimated that in a ton of compound fertilizer ready 

 for the soil the usual proportion of fish scrap is 25 per cent, it is seen 

 that the industiy has contributed the ammoniatefor 4,102,000 tons of 

 fertilizer, or at the rate of 149,712 tons annually. In growing cotton, 

 for which these fertilizers are largely used, 250 pounds are generally 

 employed to raise one bale. 



FERTILIZERS FROM FISH WASTE OR REFUSE. 



Even in the food-fisheries large quantities of materials are obtained 

 which can not be used for food. This includes not only non-edible 

 species, but also those edible varieties which are not marketable, 

 owing to such unusual conditions as lack of transportation facilities 

 or a glut in the market. It likewise includes the refuse in dressing 

 fish for the markets and for canning, drying, salting, etc. 



Formerly, when the markets were overstocked during warm weather, 

 large quantities of fresh fish spoiled and were suitable only for ferti- 

 lizer. Even so choice a variety as the mackerel has been used for 

 enriching land when taken in lai'ger quantities than could be used for 

 food purposes. In 1880, for instance, when the total catch of mackerel 

 in New England ai^proximated 132,000,000 pounds, 500,000 pounds 

 of small fish were reported as having been used in Massachusetts as 

 fertilizer.'^ 



Previous to 1870, according to Capt. N. B. Church, many thousand 

 barrels of scup and sea bass, taken in trap nets between Cape Cod and 

 Montauk Point, were purchased b}^ the farmers and spread on the land. 

 Mr. A. B. Alexander states that large quantities of shad taken in the 

 Columbia River are used for fertilizer. With the development of fish 

 freezers and the improved means of communication and transportation 

 this waste is much reduced. Yet the aggregate quantity of food-fish 

 received in bad condition, or which "goes bad" in the markets, in 

 the course of the year is very large in any populous city. During 

 1899, according to the Fish Trades Gazette, the quantity of fish con- 

 demned by the officers of the Fishmongers' Comj)any in London was 

 1,520 tons, of which 232 tons were plaice, 228 tons Norwegian herring, 

 109 tons haddock, 94 tons mussels, 80 tons skate, 70 tons welks, and 

 GO tons of periwinkles. In New York City the quantity of spoiled 

 fish condemned during the summer amounts to several hundred 

 thousand pounds each year.^ 



a Report U. S. Fish Commission, 1881, p. 219. 



& During the interval between Wednesday, JiTne 3U, and Wednesday, .July 14, the authorities of 

 the health department of New York City condemned as unfit for food 41,650 poiinds of fish. 

 Of thisamount, :i9.650 iionnds were seized in the Fulton Fish Market, the remaining 2,000 poiinds 

 being condemned by tbn local inspectors among the retail dealers in various sections of the 

 city. (TAe Fishing Gazette, 1902, p. 458.) 



