64 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



expectation, and will likely become a source of wealth to farmers 

 living on such parts of the seacoasts where they can be taken 

 with ease and in great abundance. These fish abound with oil 

 and blood more than any other kind of their size. They are not 

 used for food, except by negroes in the West India Islands." 

 This is absolute proof of the recognition of the value of men- 



FIG. 2. DISCHARGING A CARGO OF FISH BY TRAVELING BUCKETS. 



haden for fertilizing purposes one, two, and nearly three cen- 

 turies ago. But we have even stronger early testimony in the 

 letter of President D wight, of Yale College, who in 1804 writes: 

 " No manure is so cheap as this, . . . none is so rich, and few so 

 lasting. Its effects on vegetation are prodigious. Lands which 



