The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-26
The FERTILIZER Problem.

MIR. lillian h. Bowker delivered an ad-
dress before the Massachusetts, state board
OF agriculture recently. at its great country
meeting at Spencer, Mass., that contains
much that is of interest to farmers The
following are few brief extracts from it:
The harvest of the sea is almost hmitless.
Although we are not as nation a fish eat
ing people. yet we are consuming each year
larger quantities of the products of the sea.
Furthermore. if our new methods of catch
ing fish can be encouraged and fostered by
proper legislation. and the methods Of Trans
porting improved so that it can reach the
remoteit points quickly and in a fresh state,
it will become, as it is in Great Britain, the
cheapest animal food and will be consumed
in great quantities. As it is, the amount o
fish aud other products of the sea which are
harvested as food and shipped to all parts of
the country reaches unusual proportions
1t is estimated by Frederick F. Dimick,
secretary OF the Boston fish bureau, "that
in the year 1891, "a, 2S9, 453 pounds of fish,
mostly fresh fish, equal in value to 81 $685.
258 was received in Boston from the fishing
fleet" This is equal to 81, QUO tons annually.
or over 100 tons OF fresh fish daily received
in the Boston market. Boston is also dis
tributing point for salt fish, and in 1891 Mr..
pounds OF salt tish, valued at 81, 100000. was
distributed. The receipts at Gloucester of
fish during 1891, were 3,Sl7, 6q5 pounds.
mostly salt fish, valued at s., 666, Ill. It is
estimated that the fishing ports of Boston.
Gloucester and Providence handle at least
500 tons daily of fresh and salt fish.
According to the United States fish com
uissioner's report for 1885, the grand total
Of fish. including oysters, she'll fish, men
baden and all other kinds used for food, oil
or fertilizers, was 81 ,000, COO worth bar
vested in New England, and s34, DOC, 900 for
the whole United States, while there were
5000 yes els and 1877 600 men engaged in
resping the harvest.
A PRETTY BIG FISH STORY.
As an illustration of the harvest Of the
sea, Spencer Walpole, for long time one
Of her males, Us fish inspectors of England,
states: That in 1880 there were 100, 900
tons of fish brought 50 the London market.
In 1889 there was 1913. 900 tons. or 500 tons
daily, which was equal in weight to drove
Of ]. 900 oxen"
Whenever we get to talking about fish
the figures are TO fabulous, whether we fish
in the country brook or in the great sea.
that they pass beyond comprehension and
usually beyond belief, but those which |
have already given you have taken from
official sources; and to prepare you for fut-
ure fish stories l will state at the outset,
that shall always give my authority.
TIE INTEREST or THE AGRICULTUR1sr
in the fishing industry is not, however, in
the food fish Of the sea, of which he con-
sumes but comparatively little, but in the
kinds OF fish Which will furnish him with
oil for the painting of his buildings, and
plant food with which to restore the ex-
hausted fertility OF his land, more or less of
which has been poured into the sea through
the sewers of the great cities.
The indians first taught the Americans
how to recover from the sea the fertility
which has been lost to it. Prof. Trumbull
tells us that the Indian names Of Brevoortia
"menhaden" and 'poghaden" mean FER
tilizer, that which manures, and that the
Indians were accustomed to employ this
species, with others of the herring tribe.
mostly the alewife, in enricAiDg their corn
fields. The folI- wing passage written BY
Thomas Morton 1882 is very interesting as
showing the use of menhadeu as a source OF
fertility 200 years ago:
There is fish 10y some called shadds,
by some allizes) that in the spring of the
yeare pasSe up the rivers 60 spawn In the
ponds. 81 are taken IN such multitudes in
every river that hath pond at the end that
the inhabitants doung their grounds with
them. You may see in one township a
hundred acres together. set with these fish,
every acre taking 1000 of them, & an acre
thus dressed will produce and yield as much
more corne as three acres without fish; &
least any Virginea man would infsre here's
upon that the ground OF New England Is
barren, because they use no fish in setting
their corne, desire them to be remem-
bered, the cause is nlain in Virginea) they
would have it not to sett But this practice
is only for the Indian maize which must be-
set by hands, not for English grain and
this Is, therefore. a commodity there"
The chemists tell US. as you know, that q
plant will not grow without a supply OF
nitrogen, phosphoric acid aud potash, as
we'll as many other ingredients We know
from experience that most of our soils,
especially In the eastern and middle states,
have been exhausted in a great measure Of
these important elements OF plant nutrition,
and that if we would obtain profitable
crops, we must return these elements In
some form or other.
The chemists also tell us that the men
baden pornace, after the oil and most of the
moisture are pressed out and it has been
sun-dried like hay, contains from s to 10
per cent. Of nitrogen and from 20 s per
cent. of phosphoric acid; that is, a ton of
menhaden fish contains 100 pounds of nitro
gen and 40 pounds OF phosphoric acid, or
800 pounds Of actual plant food, which is
worth in the market to-day from $35 to
$40
Following out this line of calculation, let
US see how much available plant food has
been taken from the sea for the past few
decades, or practically before prohibitory
was enacted by several of the
Atlantic states The only reliable data that
we have extend back for eighteen years, or
since the organization of the menhaden
oil and guqno association. which Is COM
posed OF fifty-three concerns who employ
i27 cam and sailing vessels. These data,
which are taken from the records OF this
are condensed in the following
tables and show the total number OF tons
loo pounds Of dry and acid menhaden
fish scrap taken yearly:
QuASTITY OF FIsH SCRAP HARVESTED.
Year Tons Iedr. Tons
1874. ........... so gI6 1883 .........-.. sSf66
al ax - ggo