249 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Following are some of the products for which a ready market exists 
or may be created in Japan, and which it would be profitable to export: 
Fish guano.—The comparatively small percentage of arable Jand 
and the immense agricultural population necessitate the raising of a 
succession of crops. In no other country is agriculture more inten- 
sive, and the continued use of large quantities of fertilizer is required. 
City refuse, fish, seaweed, straw, grass, brush, and various other 
things are employed, and a fertilizer made from soy-bean refuse is 
now imported from China. There exists a very large and constant 
demand for a cheap, dry fish-guano, such as may be made from waste 
fish or the refuse of canneries. 
Canned jish.—There is as yet no great demand among the Japanese 
for canned fish, owing to the abundance, availability, and cheapness 
of fresh fish. As the people become better acquainted with the tinned 
product, it is probable that the demand will be supplied chiefly by local 
canneries, which are already putting up an excellent grade of sardines, 
anchovies, etc. The canned fish prepared in America which seems 
most likely to be in demand in Japan is salmon. The American 
Asiatic, in the issue of April 7, 1903, stated: ‘* Every cargo now shows 
canned salmon moving to the Orient. A year ago such a movement 
was unknown. Salmon is now selling in the Orient as California 
canned fruits sold in Europe when they began to be exhibited there.” 
The shipments of canned salmon to Japan, however, are comparatively 
light, and are destined mostly for consumption among foreign resi- 
dents there. This product, to meet with ready sale among the natives, 
must be low priced, retailing at not more than 7$ or 10 cents per 
1-pound can. Deg, humpback, and silver salmon could be most 
advantageously canned for the Japanese trade. 
Salted salmon.—lt is believed that the fishery product in which 
there are the best prospects for establishing a profitable trade is salted 
salmon. The local catch is not sufficient to meet the demand and the 
supply is decreasing. Small quantities of salted salmon are now 
imported from the United States, Canada, and Asiatic Russia. Dog 
salmon and other cheap species of Alaska and the Pacific States would 
find a ready market if properly prepared; dog salmon is the principal 
species utilized in Japan. The fish should be split along the abdomen 
as far as the vent, eviscerated, and lightly salted with the abdomen 
compressed laterally, not spread, the head being left on. The salting 
should be so regulated as to leave the fish soft and flexible, not hard 
and stiff. The best time to ship is November and December, as the 
greatest demand comes in the latter part of December—dry-salted sal- 
mon being very generally given as end-of-the-year and new-year 
presents. A 10-pound dog salmon now retails for 85 to 50 cents. 
The value of the imports of salted salmon and trout into Japan in 
