﻿FISH-SCRAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 43 



the manufacturers of the atmospheric products certainly are in a po- 

 sition to supply immense quantities of nitrogenous fertilizers. 



The j)resent great source of combined nitrogen in this country 

 is ammonium sulphate from the by-product coke oven. The un- 

 recovered ammonia, liberated in the old form of coke oven, the 

 beehive, is more than enough to supply the fertilizer trade with 

 all the fixed nitrogen it demands. Should this amount be ren- 

 dered available by a sudden improvement in the coking process, the 

 preparation of fish scrap for fertilizer use doubtless would become 

 commercially inf easible. It is more probable that the increase- in the 

 output of ammonium sulphate will keep pace with the increase in 

 demand therefor, and that the price fluctuations will be gradual and 

 slight. 



In recapitulation, then, it may be said that while the demand for 

 nitrogen compounds of animal or vegetable origin undoubtedly will 

 continue to increase, the prospects for the supply of inorganic nitrog- 

 enous compounds are quite bright. While the fertilizer industry, 

 perhaps, prefers the former, it is quite independent of them so long 

 as the supply of the latter is ample. So, should the price of fish 

 scrap be increased, it appears probable that increased amounts of 

 ammonium sulphate, and, in the future, atmospheric products would 

 take its place. In the light of these considerations, then, it does not 

 appear reasonable to believe that the demand for and the price 

 offered for fish scrap for fertilizer purposes will materially increase. 



IN THE LIGHT OF THE POSSIBLE INCREASED DEMANDS FOE FISH FOR FOOD. 



The fact is forced upon our attention daily that the cost of food 

 is increasing. This can only mean either that food is becoming more 

 scarce in proportion to population, or that the expense of getting it 

 to the consumer is increasing, or both. The decrease in the exporta- 

 tion of American food products is an indication that the former is 

 true, and the continued elaboration and extension of the middleman 

 system of handling produce undoubtedly makes the latter true. A 

 number of possibilities may be realized which will operate to in- 

 crease the abundance and availability of farm produce, so that the 

 increase in production of food can keep pace with the increase in 

 population for a great many years to come. However, should this 

 increase in production not come to pass, the increasing scarcity of 

 food in general, and of nitrogenous food in particular, will make it 

 imperative that the fish of the sea be more economically utilized. 

 This will mean at first a gradual stimulation of the present fisheries 

 engaged in catching the so-called food fishes, especially those whose 

 catches are preserved for shipment long distances and for consump- 

 tion at times and places in which fresh fish are not available. 



