174 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and the waste is thrown overboard. At places along the coast, 

 where bay-fishing is conducted on a large scale, there can be some- 

 times found a liver or blubber chum, it being the refuse after 

 oil is extracted from fish-liver. If a j^ear old it loses moisture, 

 and consequently' weight ; and is therefore richer. This liver 

 chum is a pasty, sticky substance, generally sold at a figure con- 

 siderably below its value by analysis. I have bought it as low as 

 $4.50 per ton the present season (1885) ; and it is rarely higher 

 than S12, although by analysis it is worth $18.83 per ton. I would 

 advise cutting liver refuse with sharp sand, to make it fairly fine. 



Halibut chum is the refuse from the heads of halibut, which 

 are cooked under high pressure, to extract the oil that exists in 

 the bones. The result is to leave the bones in such a state that 

 they can easily be crumbled. Naturally this is especially rich in 

 phosphoric acid. It anal^'zes worth $19.99 per ton, and is sold at 

 from $6 to $10. 



This chum is usually engaged beforehand b}' dealers in fe#il- 

 izers ; but a wide-awake man, by looking around, can generally 

 pick up a supply. 



The waste of herring and mackerel at the fishing towns is some- 

 times made up into chum, being first boiled, to secure what- 

 ever oil they contain. These usually contain more or less of salt, 

 having sometimes as high as twenty per cent, which makes them 

 about as salt as kainite ; and, like the potash-bearing mineral, 

 they therefore need to be used with some care, lest the proportion 

 of salt present should injure the roots of growing plants. 



There is another waste of the fisheries which has come into the 

 market of late years; I refer to the skins, bones, and fins of 

 salted fish. These come from the fish that are stripped and sold, 

 boxed, free of bones. It is a heavy article, and the strips come 

 a little tangled. Fertilizer manufacturers usuallj' monopolize this, 

 though it can sometimes be picked up at Gloucester at from $3.75 

 to $15 per ton. 



Dog-fish are a small species of shark, weighing from three to five 

 pounds each, which, in the summer season, swarm along the New 

 England coast on the inner fishing-banks, driving away most other 

 fish. They are very easily caught, and, their muscles being very firm, 

 are rich as manure. The great trouble in manipulating these has 

 been due to the flesh being of such a stick}', oily nature that acid 

 will not readily act upon it. Still, they are used very largely as a 

 source for ammonia by one large fertilizer manufacturer in the 



