492 FISH-GUANO. [APPENDIX. 



" M. de Molon, however, conceived that a far vaster and more 

 advantageous agricultural resource might be drawn from this inex- 

 haustible wealth of the ocean, by so treating the offal of the coast 

 fisheries, and the immense quantities of common fish which are of 

 no use to the fishermen, as to ensure their preservation, concentrate 

 their fecundatory properties, and render them as transportable as 

 Peruvian guano to do, in fine, what we have shown to be practi- 

 cable in our former article. 



" M. de Molon made a number of experiments from this point 

 of view, and finally settled upon this plan : To boil the fish ; to 

 extract as much as possible of the water and oil which they con- 

 tain ; dry them and reduce them to powder. After he had obtained 

 this powder in a perfectly dry state he had it analysed, first by M. 

 Moride, at Nantes ; then at Rennes, by M. Malaguti ; and finally, 

 by M. Payen, in Paris. 



" These analyses, several times repeated, yielded as a mean the 

 following percentage as results : 



Water 1-00 



Nitrogenous organic matter 8010 



Soluble salts, consisting principally of chloride of sodium, 



carbonate of ammonia, and traces of sulphate . . 4' 50 



Phosphate of lime and magnesia . . . . . 14' 10 



Carbonate of lime 0'06 



Silica 0-02 



Magnesia and loss . 0'22 



100-00 



"In other words, these repeated analyses indicate that dried 

 fish-powder would contain about 



12 per cent of nitrogen, and 

 14 ,, of bone earth 



that is to say, it would be nearly as rich as the best Peruvian guano. 

 (According to the results of analyses made on herrings, an average 

 manure made from that fish, and containing 10 per cent of water, 

 would contain about 13 J per cent of nitrogen, and between 11 and 

 12 per cent of bone earth. The small fish containing but little bone 

 earth accounts for the difference in both cases.) To the scientific 

 analysis M. de Molon wished to add the sanction of practice ; he 

 applied 400 kilogrammes (880 '8 Ibs.) per hectare (2 acres, 1 rood, 



