The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-12-22
II msb
Fish as a Fertilizer-swamu Muck.


Many persons are making inquiries concerning the
best mode of using fish for fertilizng purposes To
manufacture the .fsh-guano is out of the power Of
private enterprise and would be too expensive. Nor
is it necessary for article hardly inferior to any
other can easily be prepared by all who live where
they procure fish in large quantities and at small
expense. The following article which appeared in
the Richmond Dispatch last Spring, contains all
needed information. The name of General Gillian,
formerly Professor in the Virginia Military Institute
is guarantee of its value.
RICHMOND, Va, April 81, 1869.
Editors Richmond Dispatch
Gentlemen,-I notice in your issue of
yesterday note of inquiry from Mr.. D. H.
Foster, of Matthews, as to how our tide
water farmer, may apply fish to the greatest
advantage in the production of crops, fol-
lowed by an invitation from yourselves to
"any gentlemen who is able to answer" to
do so through the columns of the Dispatch.
I avail myself of this invitation to offer few
remarks in reply to Mr.. Fosters inquiries
The great value of fish as fertilizer has
long been recognized and appreciated by the
people of most of the regions in which it is
abundant-its use being, of course, confined
to districts bordering on the sea or other
large bodies of water. Some years since
Professor Way, then chemist to the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, in the hope
of deyising some method by which fish might
be gotten into such form as to admit of its
transportation for long distances, made some
very elaborate analyses, from which he found
that the natural fish contains nitrogen suffi-
Gent to yield little more than two per cent.
of ammonia, and little more than two per
cent. of ash, of which the leading constitu-
ents are phosphoric acid, lime and potash
:.'The most striking characteristic of fish
which analysis has furnished, and which,
indeed, is the only one that the practical
man of enlightened mind will require to en-
able him to form correct estimate of the
Office and utility of fish in farm practice, is
the fact that the composition of fish is, in
many instances, nearly similar to that of
some of our most important cultivated crops.
Wheat contains about two per cent. of
nitrogen, and so does fish. On this point
Mr.. Way says: 100 pounds of wheat require
about one pound and three-quarters of ash,
about one half of which is phosphoric acid
and one-third potash. One hundred pounds
of fish (sprats) contain two pounds of ash, of
which wo-fifths is phosphoric acid and one
fifth potash. Surprising that in the produc-
ton of wheat no loss of manure occurs, what
manure would be more fit to produce bushel
of wheat than half hundred weight of
sprats."
Direct applications of the fresh fish to the
land seems to be the most common mode
For wheat and the other crops of small grain,
the fish are spread broadcast and ploughed
under; for corn they are usually put in-or
rather under-the hill. All writer's agree,
however, in recommending their use in the
form of compost with good rich earth. The
earth absorbs the ammonia given off in the
fermentation of the fish, and in a few months
the whole mass falls down to manure which
retains all the virtue of the fish, and in which
all trace of fish is lost. Plaster might be
used with decided advantage in such COM
post, but lime should be sedulously avoided,
for the reason that'wherever it comes in con-
tact with the salts of ammonia, the latter is
set free, and, being volatile, escapes.
In some parts of New England composts
made of swamp muck and fish are found to
be of great value as fertilizers; and | call
attention to this fact in the hope that some
of our tide-water farmers may be induced to
make available in this way some of the in
exhaustble stores of fertility now lying
dormant in the numerous swamps and marshes
of this region. Experience demonstrates
that applications of muck are of little value,
and sometimes are positively hurtful, without
having first been long exposed to the amelio-
rating effects of the air, or made into COM
posts with stable manure, animal refuse, fish,
&c. When composted, with animal matter,
for example fish, the latter enters into decom-
position or fermentation at once The muck
absorbs such elements of fertility as am
monia that might otherwise be lost, and at
the same time commences itself to ferment,
by which its nitrogen is transformed into
ammonia, and other changes take place,
whereby it becomes a valuable fertilizer, in
dependent of the fish and other matters that
may have been used to quicken the process
of amelioration.
The following, taken from Professor John
sons essays on peat, muck, &C., may not be
out of place in this connection. One of his
correspondents, who uses fish and muck ex.
tensively for composing, says:
eve vary the proportions somewhat &C
cording to the crop the compost is intended
for. For rye, we apply twenty to twenty
FIVE loads (of twenty-five bushels) per acre
of compost made with one load of fish !;
and with this manuring, no matter how poor
the soil, the rye will be as large as man
can cradle. For oats we use less fish, as
this crop is apt to lodge. For corn, one
part fish to ten or twelve of muck is about
right, while for grasses or top-dressing the
proportion of fish may be increased.
owe find it best to mix the fish in sum-
mer, and not use the compost until the next
spring and summer. We usually compost
our first arrivals of fish in June for our win
ter grain. After the pile has stood three or
four weeks it is worked over thoroughly
AS the pile is worked over, sprinkling of
muck or plaster is given to retain any escap-
ing ammonia. By September the fish have
completely disappeared. The effect on the