4 BULLETIN 378, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In 1908 Lindsey * reported that in Europe a great variety of meat and fish 

 meals had been offered for sale as stock foods as early as 1872. A review of 

 a number of experiments with horses, cattle, sheep, and swine established the 

 fact that these materials, when properly prepared, are excellent foods for stock 

 and poultry, and that they are highly digestible. 



Notwithstanding the favorable reports recorded on the use of fish 

 meal it was ignored at this time, preference being given to dried 

 blood and tankage. This was in part due, no doubt, to the fact 

 that the industries producing these were more highly organized and 

 their selling arrangements proportionately greater. 



Turrentine" calls attention to the use of fish scraps as a feeding stuff for 

 poultry and stock and gives extended quotations from the report by Goode, 

 cited above. From his review of the early feeding of fish in this country he 

 concludes that " the universally afiirmative results of all the recorded experi- 

 ments with fish scrap as a cattle feed leave little room for doubt as to its 

 efficiency." He remarks further : " It is indeed surprising that its use as a 

 feed has not been more generally introduced. * * * it would be fitting, 

 indeed, that even a small part of the millions of pounds of combined nitrogen 

 carried seaward annually by the rivers should be returned and after a short 

 cycle again should be rendered suitable for man's consumption." 



According to Kellner ^ milch cows may be fed as high as 2 pounds per day 

 with no objectionable taste or flavor resulting in the milk or butter. Feeding 

 to sheep 'or horses is best accomplished by mixing it with other feeds. It is 

 recommended that one-half pound per day be given. 



F. Lehmann * ranks fish meal next to meat meal in its content of nourishing 

 material. Laboratory experiments show^ed that 98.6 per cent of the protein 

 was digested with pepsin and pancreatic extract. It is also pointed out that 

 fish meal, on account of the length of time required to render the nitrogen and 

 phosphates available for plant assimilation, is not a very good fertilizer ; but 

 that it is a very good feeding stuff and when so used its fertilizing value is 

 enhanced, since the fertilizing ingredients reappear in the manure in forms 

 more easily used by plants. 



Kiihn-Cornieten ° conducted a practical test with six cows, comparing the 

 yield and quality of milk and butter when the cows were fed a ration containing 

 no fish meal with the results obtained when fish meal was substituted for dried 

 malt husks and sunflower meal in the basal ration. From IJ to 2 J pounds (Ger- 

 man) fish meal were fed per head per day in the different trials. The milk 

 produced during the experiment was analyzed. The yield of milk was fairly well 

 maintained during the time fish meal was given, while the percentage of fat In 

 the milk was increased. The butter did not have a fishy odor or taste and was 

 declared to be about the same in quality as that produced on oil cakes. Since 

 the quantity of milk was about the same, the percentage of fat higher, and the 

 feed cheaper, it was concluded that fish meal was a valuable feeding stuff. 



Fink ° fattened steers with a . ration including fish meal at the rate of 3 

 pounds per head per day. A gain of 303 pounds in 90 days was made. Nothing 

 is stated m regard to the flavor of the meat. 



iMass. Sta. Rpt., 1908, pt. 2, p. 149. 



2 " The fisli-scrap fertilizer industry of the Atlantic coast " ; Bui. No. 2, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



3 Die Ernahrung d-landw. Nutzthiere, pp. 369-371. 



* Landw. Wochenbl. f. Schleswig. Holstein, 1892, Nc. 23 ; pp. 200-201. 

 •Molkerei Zeitung, 1894, 8 (44), p. 675. 

 «Deut. Landw. Presse, 1896, S3 (17) 1, p. 145. 



