Smyrna times., 1878-12-11
agricultural.
Fish Guano Trade and Manufacture.
MENHADEN FISHERIES AND FERTILIZERs-CoAsT
AND INLAND FACTORIES ETC.

AND INLAND FACTORIES, ETC.
Within the past few days the trade in
fish scrap, or, as it is called among dealers,
@ fish chum," for agricultural purposes has
become an item of trade in Baltimore. 1t
is used almost entirely by the manipula-
tors of fertilizers to furnish the requisite
amount of ammonia in their preparations, |
in place of Peruvian guano, which has be- |
come scarce and much lower in percentage |
of ammonia than when first brought to |
this market. The menhaden, mossbunker,
or bony fish, of the herring family, is the |
fish almost exclusively yielding this scrap, |
and is extensively caught along the Allan |
tic coast. Like the mackerel, the menha-
den is a deep-water fish, which visits the
coast periodically for the purpose of find
ing spawning grounds. 1t associates in i'm
mense schools, of which the females are
said to exceed the males in the proportion
of more than three to one. Their eggs are
deposited in the ground and there become
matured and hatch. They are of the arc
topolitan species; that is, those which are
generally distributed in the colder regions
of the northern hemisphere.
The greater portion of the tish refuse
coming to this market is received from the
fishing establishments on the Chesapeake
bay and its tributaries. These are annually
increasing in number and size, and the
business is a remuneratlve one. A firm in
this city has sold 200 tons of this scrap the
current year to one manufacturer of fertili-
zers, and the same firm has made other
sales, aggregating 1000 tons. This repre-
sents most of the bay receipts, but proba-
bly, 10000 tons come here from other
sources. The oil which is extracted from
these fish comes here in some quantity also,
5000 barrels having been sold by one mer-
chant since last January. The business Of
making this oil is also extensively carried
on along the coasts of New England, Long
Island and New Jersey in this country, and
there are large establishments for making
fish oil and fish guano in Norway.
The fish are caught in large purse nets,
subjected to immense pressure to get the
oil, and the refuse is at once ready for the
farmer or manufacturer. Besides the fac
tories on shore, which are supplied by nets
worked at the place and by vessels that go
out to sea, up and down the coast, and re-
turn as soon as loaded, steamers are fitted
out which manage the whole operation
ahoat. These steamers 60 to Labrador, the
British provinces, and down the coast as
far as Hatteras, hunting the fish. The oil
is pressed out aboard the steamer and bar
relied, and the chum or refuse sent out by
attending schooners.
One of the largest fisheries and factories
of the kind in this section is that of Oar
ling & Smithers, at Fisherman's Inlet, near
Cape Charles, where about 5000 tons of
scrap have been made this year, almost all
of which was shipped South to manufactur-
ers of fertilizers. Great as are the quantities
made, there is no likelihood of overstoek-
ing the market, for the demand is con-
stantly increasing, and shipments are being
made to Europe. Fish chum is sold here
in its crude state by the cargo, delivered at
the wharf, at from $ll to $3.50 per ton OF
1000 pounds, according to condition, bring
ing more in proportion to its dryness.
When dried and its percentage of ammoniB
determined, it is sold at from 1926 to $275
per unit of percentage; that is, the per-
centage is multiplied by the price per unit,
in order to ascertain cost per ton. This
fish scrap in its green state, just from the
press, contains from seven to nine per cent.
of ammonia When dried it has ten to
twelve per cent. of ammonia, and in some
cases more. Besides the ammonia it has
about thirty-five per cent of bone, and, all
things considered, is probably the cheapest
and best fertilizer known. In the neigh
borhood of the various factories the farmers
buy it and haul it for direct application, oil
mix it with other absorbents. or treat it with
sulphuric acid before applying. The re
suits have always been most gratifying
and all farmers speak we'll of its effects
Futile efforts have been made in some
States to stop these fisheries, and it appear:
as though the great seas into which the
rich matter of all kinds is washed are to be
made to return in this form the materia
the production of which has impoverished
the earth.
Another industry of recent origin and o
rapidly increasing Importance Is the ap
preparation of the menhaden or moss
bunker for preservation in oil, as sardines
1t is full of small bones, and almost uneat
able in the regular way. Although inferio
to the true sardine, it appears to he favor
ably received by large community, mas
much as there are, especially IN the Stat
of New Jersey, several large factories dc
voted to the curing of the fish in this way
They are decaptavated, the tail cut OF
and otherwise trimmed, and by being suit
iected to steam the bones are softeneo
after which they are put into some vegt
table oil. They.ha been long caught 10
their oil, which is abundant, and is used i
leather dressing, rope making, and to
adulterating higher-priced oils. Until with
late years the menhaden had been use
almost solely as manure or for conversio
into oil and guano.-Bah. Sun.