£ISH-SCKAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 15 
per cent solid matter (round fish have been shown to contain 19 
per cent solid matter 1 ), the quantity of refuse would produce 7,852 
tons of dried fish scrap. 
The utilization of any considerable portion of this waste for the 
preparation of dried scrap, it will be seen, is economically impossible 
when it is remembered that the fisheries are scattered the length of 
the coast, that many fish are shipped to the various markets un- 
dressed and are dressed either there or by the consumer, and that 
the fresh fish marketed dressed frequently are prepared on board 
the fishing boats and the waste is thrown overboard. At present it 
is true that practically all of the fish heads and offal available for 
fertilizer purposes is the comparatively small amount produced at 
the canneries. The fish-canning industry is carried on on the Maine 
coast more actively than at any other locality on the Atlantic sea- 
board, where a number of different sorts of fish, but principally 
herring, are preserved. To a certain extent the waste from these 
industries, known as " fish cuttings " and consisting of the heads 
and viscera, is treated for the recovery of its oil and the preparation 
of fish pomace or raw scrap. 
Concerning the practice at the herring canneries of the Passama- 
quoddy region of maine, Hall 2 states : 
The " fish cuttings " and refuse fish which accumulate at the canneries are 
made into pomace and sold for fertilizer. When the herring are cut for sar- 
dines the " cuttings," which include the heads and viscera, are first deposited 
in barrels. They are afterwards removed to the press room and emptied in a 
heap on the floor, being spread in layers and covered with salt to prevent them 
from decomposing. The quantity of salt used is about 3 bushels to 5 barrels of 
cuttings. After remaining in the salt a short time they are put into three- 
quarter hogshead tubs and thoroughly cooked with steam. * * * The tubs 
are kept covered while the fish are cooking. After being cooked, the cuttings 
are dipped with scoop nets from the tubs into the pomace presses. There are 
usually two of these presses used in each cannery. * * * The pressure is 
applied with a jackscrew operated by hand. While the fish are being pressed 
the oil and water which they contain are carried off into an oil tank by means 
of an open spout. The pomace, when taken from the press, is packed into, 
barrels' which are made for that purpose and hold about 275 pounds each. 
It is sold largely to farmers in the vicinity at an average of about $9 per ton. 
The oil is skimmed off the water in the tanks and put in barrels for shipment. 
The price received in 1895 was about 14 cents per gallon. * * * 
It requires about 3 hogsheads of fish to yield 1 hogshead of cuttings and 5 
hogsheads of cuttings to make 1 ton of pomace. It is generally estimated that 
the yield of oil to each ton of pomace is from 20 to 23 gallons, but the propor- 
tions in which the two products are sold show the average quantity of oil to 
the ton of pomace to be a little less than 16 gallons. 
1 Cf. p. 32. 
2 The Herring Industry of the Passamaquoddy Region. U. S. Fish Coram. Kept., 189.6;- 
cf. p. 479. 
