Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-05-13
Where Nitrogen in Fertilizers
Comes From.

In his lecture before the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society last winter, Mr.. j.
j. II. Gregory explained why manufac-
turers OF commercial fertilizers are some
times enabled to make fertilizer and sell
it at profit, that will show value at the
experiment station above its selling price.
He said one OF the principal sources from
which manufacturers of fertilizers obtain
their ammonia. is the fish waste or Offal
which they pick up all along the coast
from Maine to Florida. The fish are
caught in nets and boiled to secure the
oil, in which they are rich, at various es-
Establishments along the coast and its bor
dering islands. After boiling. the water
and oil are pressed out of the mass, and
the residue is sometimes thrown into heaps
to heat and dry; at other times it Is put
directly into barrels and pressed in.
In this condition it is known as "po-
mace" or ''chum." If it is to be sold as
fish guano. it is spread on large platforms
to dry after which it is ground. The fish
guano is sometimes treated with acid to
make the nitrogen and phosphoric acid
Immediately available. Sometimes, when
the catch is large, enough are taken at
tons each, and the quantity is greater than
the oil factories can care for in hot wealth
err, so the surplus is sold at the best price
to be obtained. There are numerous
other forms of fish waste which are often
sold at low prices, and are eagerly bought
by fertilizer manufacturers. Among
these are the scrap or chum
from fish livers, after the oil is
extracted. Mr.. Gregory has bought this
within the present year for 81 so per ton,
and it is rarely higher than $l2, although
by analysis and the station scale for fixing
values, it is worth 1883 per ton.
Halibut chum, the refuse from the heads
of halibut, which are cooked under high
pressure to extract the oil, leaving the
bones in such state that they easily
crumble. and very rich in phosphoric
acid, is sold at from Sc to $40 per ton,
while by analysis it is worth about 500
per ton. Mr.. Gregory says that these
fish-wastes are usually engaged before
hand by dealers in fertilizers, but wide
awake farmers in the vicinity. by looking
around can generally pick up sufficient
for their own use. OF course farmers liv-
ing so near the factories that they can haul
away these fish wastes with their own
teams, have great advantage over those
who are so far away that the freights and
other expenses would equal all the saving
they might hope to make. We have not
quoted from Mr.. Gregory's paper to show
inland farmers how they can obtain fer
tilizers at less than half their rated value,
but to show how it is that fertilizer man.
ufacturers may often give a fertilizer for
a less price than the station analysis indi-
Gates it is worth.
Last summer, when visiting farms in the
vicinity of Concord and Acton, we found
cases where fish-wastes had been applied
to grass lands, at first with great advant-
age. the hay crops being the wonder of
the localities. but after few heavy crops
had been taken. the yield grew less and
less, till after a few years the land ap.
peared to have been poisoned bv the ap-
plication. MIR. Gregory explains this on
the ground that the fertilization has been
one sided. Large quantities of nitrogen
and phosphorc acid have been applied,
but little or no potash. and the soils are
diving for the want of it. Applying
more of the fish-waste only makes bad
condition worse. To recuperate such
soils. potash. or manures rich in potash,
should be applied. when their fertility
will be restored.
Although the speaker purchased and
used over 80 tons of commercial fertiliz-
ers last year, this was but a small part of
the cost of all the manures used on his
several large farms. He believed that
manures containing a mixture of ammonia
from different sources-the more the bet
ter-are preferable to those which derive
their ammonia from single source
Leather scraps contain considerable
nitrogen, but so firmly tied up and being
exceedingly slow to rot, they are practic-
ally worthless as fertilizer. Ploughed
into tillage land they are nuisance. but
make excellent covering for blind drains.
" E. Farmer.