UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 63 
improvements in the machine will not reduce the cost of cutting. 
Certain features of the present method of operation are objection- 
able. But these almost certainly will disappear when a fuller expe- 
rience shall have pointed them out and the means of circumventing 
them. Cutters of other forms and modifications of the present cutter 
have been designed and patented. Conspicuous among these are 
machines ascribed to S. A. Knapp (U. S. Patent No. 756,658) and 
George H. Ennis (U. S. Patent No. 1,080,144). In spite of its 
imperfections, the kelp cutter now in operation must be regarded as 
an unqualified solution of the problem of the economical harvesting 
of kelp. 
The chopped kelp may be unloaded at the dock by an elevator such 
as that recommended for unloading cannery waste. In fact, the iden- 
tical elevator may be employed in the same manner as in unloading 
the other class of material. 
The drying of such materials as fish pomace, a class in which kelp 
likewise may be included, has been discussed in foregoing para- 
graphs. It should suffice to say here that from a priori considera- 
tions, as well as the results gotten so far in actual experimentation 
with kelp in the large-sized, hot-air drier and on a semicommercial 
scale, this type of drier seems entirely adapted to the drying of kelp. 
Since, under Atlantic coast conditions, fish pomace containing 
55 to 60 per cent water may be dried in the direct-heat rotary drier 
at a cost of about 50 cents per dry ton, it seems reasonable to believe 
that it should be possible to dry kelp, containing 85 to 90 per cent 
water, at a cost of $1 per dry ton. After drying it may be found 
desirable to grind the kelp for mixing. Dry kelp, especially when 
hot, is quite brittle and grinds easily. 
Frye, in his work on Alaskan kelps, has shown that the leaves of 
Nereocystis yield 9.2 per cent solids and the stems 7.2 per cent, and 
that the Microcystis, stems and leaves together, yields 13.27 per cent 
solids. Alaria flstulosa produces 13.74 per cent solids. These results 
were obtained by weighing specimens immediately on being taken 
from the water while they were still wet with sea water. On the 
basis of these values and the analyses given in the foregoing tables 
the following calculations have been made, showing the yield in 
various constituents to be expected from a definite weight of f reshly 
cut kelp : 
Table XIII. — Yield in various constituents to be expected from 1,000 tons of 
freshly cut Macrocystis and Alaria. 
Variety of kelp. 
Wet 
kelp. 
Dry 
kelp. 
K 2 0. 
N. 
Macrocystis 
Tons. 
1,000 
1,000 
Tons. 
132 
137 
Tons. 
25.3 
13.3 
Tons. 
2.2 
Alaria 
3.6 
