38 FERTILIZERS. 



being any thing but ottar of roses, while it took a vast 

 quantity of soil to compost it. After remaining some 

 months, oftentimes the heads would not be fully decayed, 

 making the mass extremely disagreeable to handle ; while 

 there could be only a rough guess made as to how much 

 of it would become plant-food the same season it was 

 applied. Of late years the fish are for the most part 

 cleaned before the vessels reach port, and the waste 

 thrown overboard. At places along the coast where bay- 

 fishing is carried on 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 year ^old, it 

 loses moisture and consequently weight, and is therefore 

 richer. This liver chum is a pasty, sticky substance, gen- 

 erally sold at a figure considerably 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 $12, 

 though, by analysis, it is worth 118.83 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 hali- 

 but, 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 

 analyzes worth $19.99 per ton, and is sold at from $6 

 to $10. This chum is usually engaged beforehand by 

 dealers in fertilizers ; 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 sometimes 

 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 



