( 393 ) 



XXV, — On the Refuse of the Cod- Fishery of Xeicfoundland as 

 convertihie into a Fortable Manure. A Despatch from the 

 Governor to tlie Duke of ewcastle. 



3Iy Lord Duke. — In reference to x\\e circular despatch from 

 the Right Honourable Sir John Pakington, dated June 26, 

 1852, addressed to my predecessor in this government, trans- 

 mitting copies of certain papers containing information respect- 

 ing the properties of guano and the means of obtaining a larger 

 supplv of that valuable manure, I beg leave to call your Grace's 

 attention, and that of the Royal Agricultural Society, to the 

 value and importance of the use of fish and fish offal as manure, 

 after havina: undergone a certain process of preparation for the 

 purpose of rendering it portable to any distance, and of facili- 

 tating its application to the soil. 



With this view I have the honour to transmit, for your Grace's 

 information, a communication, at my request, from M. Gautier, 

 Lieutenant de A aisseau, on board the French war-steamer 

 Teloce, now on this station, on the nature and properties of 

 this description of manure, and on the mode in which it is 

 capable of being prepared in order to render it portable and 

 applicable in the same manner as o^uano. 



In this island the manure universally applied to the soil is 

 fish, consisting of the superabundant herrings and caplins in the 

 process of decomposition, and generally without any earthy 

 admixture ; and the heads, bones, and entrails of cod-fish, after 

 having been decomposed and formed into a compost with clay or 

 peat-bog earth. 



This manure, I learn, has. on trial and comparison, been found 

 to be much more fertilizing than guano : and when applied to 

 the thin, gravelly, unpromising soil in the neighbourhood of 

 this town, yields crops of grass and potatoes which, in -vigour of 

 growth and productiveness, cannot be surpassed elsewhere. It 

 is no less powerful when applied to oats, which, however, owing 

 to the shortness of the season and the consequent uncertaintv of 

 the ripening of the grain, are but partiallv cultivated. 



Still, hov.-ever rich and fertilizing as a manure fish-offal mav 

 be when applied to the soil in even the crude state and un- 

 scientific mamier in which it is used in this island, it could 

 never become an article of export, and be made useful for agri- 

 cultural purposes elsewhere, without undergoing a process of 

 manufacture similar to that described by ]M. Gautier. In this 

 latter condition it will be seen, from the analysis refeiTed to in 

 the accompanying paper, that it forms a product perfectly 

 analogous to, and at least as rich as, if not richer than, the best 

 Peruvian guanos. 



