160 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



atable, having an oily or muddy taste. It is also considered a very good bait for hali- 

 but. At Provincetown, this species is used only for mackerel bait ; and for this pur- 

 pose they are worth from seventy-five cents to four dollars per barrel, in proportion to 

 the demand. In the year 1836, 1,500 barrels were used as bait for other fishes. While 

 I was visiting Race Point, in the latter part of June, 1847, a large number of barrels of 

 this fish were taken by the fishermen in their sweep-nets from the shore. I learn from 

 Captain Atwood, that a much smaller number are taken in the sweep-nets than for- 

 merly, as they stay off in deeper water, for the most part out of reach of the nets, and 

 but few are caught in the mackerel nets. 



Being a very oily fish, it is valuable as an article of manure. In some places they 

 are taken for this purpose only. At Lynn, in 1836, 1,500 barrels full were thrown 

 upon the land. At Sandwich, where they are very abundant, the inhabitants strew 

 them upon their land by the cart-load, and thus for miles immense quantities enrich 

 the soil. It is computed that a single menhaden, of ordinary size, is equal in richness 

 to a shovelful of barn-yard manure. Upon some portions of Cape Cod, menhaden are 

 sold to the farmers for one dollar per thousand for manure ; they average about one 

 pound each, and twenty-five hundred are considered a proper quantity for an acre. 



Dekay states, that in the counties of Suffolk, King's, and Queen's, in New York, it is 

 used as an article of manure in the following ways : — " For Indian corn, two or three 

 are thrown on a hill ; for wheat, they are thrown broadcast on the field and ploughed 

 under, although it is not uncommon to put them in layers alternately with common 

 mould, and when decomposed to spread it like any other compost. Its effects in reno- 

 vating old grass-fields, when spread over with these fish at the rate of about two thou- 

 sand to the acre, are very remarkable." 



That the air, however, must be exceedingly deteriorated, if not rendered decidedly 

 unhealthy by them, is shown by the following extract of a letter from my friend, J. B. 

 Forsyth, M. D., formerly of Sandwich, now of Chelsea, dated November 8th, 1837. 

 " For two or three miles below me, on the Barnstable road, the stench from the decom- 

 posing fish was a great nuisance to travellers passing along the road, so much so that 

 I feared they might be instrumental in the production of disease ; but whether they 

 were so or not, I am not now prepared to say. But certain it is, there have been more 

 cases of autumnal fever and dysentery this season in this district, than in all the rest of 

 the town." 



It is also taken for its oil. In the year 1845, four or five hundred barrels of oil were 

 obtained at the Elizabeth Islands, by grinding up these fishes by machinery. This oil 

 is used by the painters, and is considered preferable to linseed oil. 



