10 BULLETIN 378, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The waste in the sardine industry affords excellent material for 

 the preparation of a high-grade fish meal. As it comes from the 

 packing table it has been steam cooked and partially dried in the 

 process of preparing the fish for packing, and can be taken after 

 collection from the packing tables directly to a plant equipped for 

 pressing and drying. During the season of 1914 a quantity of 

 fish meal was made in the course of experiments looking toward 

 the utilization of this waste material as a stock food. A part of 

 this waste is now utilized by converting it into " pomace " or " scrap " 

 for use as a fertilizer. A number of experiments were made, using 

 raw material varying in fat content and employing different meth- 

 ods of treatment preparatory to pressing and drying. The plant 

 used for the experimental work was equipped with an iron cooker 

 heated directly by steam, a rack and cloth screw press capable of 

 yielding a pressure of 120 tons, and an ordinary type of rotary fer- 

 tilizer drier. With this equipment a yield of from 27 to 33 per cent 

 of meal was obtained from thfe fish residue; and from raw material 

 containing from 12 to 17 per cent of oil, over one-half of the oil 

 was removed by pressing. The oil obtained was bright, clear, and 

 of very high quality. The fish meal from these excessively fat fish 

 contained 17.51 per cent of oil. After pressing and drying raw 

 material which contained from 8 to 9,5 per cent oil, a dried meal 

 was obtained containing from 9 to 12 per cent of fat. The average 

 composition of meal obtained in six different experiments was as 

 follows : 



Per cent. 



Water 7. 71 



Fat 15.19 



Total nitrogen 9. 39 



Protein (Nx6.25) 58. 70 



Ash 15. 18 



This meal was stored in a barn at Eastport, Me., for a period of two 

 or three months and was then shipped to Washington for use in 

 feeding experiments after again being stored for about two months. 

 The entire quantity, about 1 ton of meal comprising four of the 

 experimental lots, was thoroughly mixed and was used for feeding 

 experiments in cooperation with the Animal Husbandry and Dairy 

 Divisions of the Bureau of Animal Industry of this department, using 

 growing pigs, poultry, and dairy cows. The analysis of this meal 

 and the composition of the fish are given on page 11.^ It will be 

 noted that there was a loss of 3 per cent of water during tlie time of 

 storage and shipping. 



1 The analysis of the meal was made by H. W. Hoi^hton ; of the ash by J. B. Wilson, 

 both of the Animal Physiological Chemical Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry. 

 The nitrogen determinations were all made by the Nitrog^ Laboratory of the same 

 bureau. 



