FISH MEAL AS A STOCK AND POULTRY FOOD. 9 
COMPOSITION AND QUALITIES OF FISH MEAL. 
In the earlier experiments in this country, which have been re- 
viewed, the material referred to is the undried cakes as they came 
from the presses. Since the advent of drying this residue has been 
converted into the fish scrap of the fish fertilizer industry. With 
proper attention, however, to sanitary considerations in the processes, 
it may be made into fish meal for feeding purposes. 
The preparation of the material in this form makes it at once a 
commercial proposition, so far as shipping and ready use in com- 
pounding stock food rations are concerned. The meal containing 
less than 10 per cent of moisture will keep a very long time without 
decomposition or apparent chemical change. Portions of the ex- 
perimental lots of fish meals made from sardine waste have been 
stored for over a year now, with apparently no change taking place. 
The product is usually shipped in 80 or 100 pound bags and will 
probably receive the same classification as fish fertilizer scrap, which 
at present is classified as 6th class in carload lots, or as 4th in less 
than carload lots (official classification); western classification: L. 
C. L., 3d; C. L., C. ; southern classification: L. C. L., not taken; 
C. L., at fertilizer rates. 
During the season of 1913-14 the Bureau of Chemistry made an 
extensive study of the sardine industry on the coast of Maine. It 
was during these investigations that attention was drawn to the 
large amount of waste in the packing of the fish as sardines, par- 
ticularly at times when the fish were of large size. The possibility 
of utilizing this material as a stock food was considered and an 
investigation of the preparation and yield of material for this pur- 
pose was instituted during the season of 1914. 
The question of the utilization of the fish waste on the Pacific 
coast has been extensively investigated b^y J. W. Turrentine x of the 
Bureau of Soils of this department as a part of the investigation of 
the fertilizer resources of the United States. The report of this 
work, which covers all phases of the subject, contains the analyses 
of five samples of dried " scrap " which were prepared at as many 
different factories from the waste in the canning of salmon. As 
the analysis indicates, they were well dried products, the water con- 
tent ranging from 3.91 per cent to 5.36 per cent. The protein con- 
tent ranged from 47.69 per cent to 59.31 per cent. It can be seen,, 
therefore, that a product from this source has considerable value- 
as a high-protein material, and it is said to be of very high quality., 
Attention is also directed in this report to the use of the higher- 
grade " scrap " or meal as a stock and poultry food. 
1 U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 150. 
42864°— 16 2 
