The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1904-02-05
FISH FOR FERTILIZERS
Many Menhaden Are Caught for Thss
Purpose-Someth1ng About
Fish Facterles. ]

Long before the white man found the
shores Of the North American con-
tinent the Indians used to fertilize the
soil for their small crops Of corn. says
the New York Tribune. On any sunny
morning In May one might have seen
them walking back and forth across
the open space which had been broken
up for the purpose. STOPPING to deposit
the small fish, taken the day previous
from the neighboring bay. in the hill
which was to receive the seed corn
When the colonists came across the sea
they observed the methods of the red
man and followed in his footsteps. At
this time. however, the use Of fertilizer
was not required in large quantities.
owing to the natural fertility Of the
soil. In course of time the demand in
creased. and the Indians fertilizer Is
now used In large quantities. The in
significant menhaden, the fsherman's
bait and the Indians fertilizer, is the
fish which is used chiefly for this pur-
pose. 1t will surprise many persons to
learn that about SOC. O0O. 900 menhaden.
constituting about 80 per cent of the
total catch of flsh In the United States.
are taken every year. So important Is
the industry that factories equipped
with labor-saving devices Of the most
modern character are operated all
along the Atlantic coast to prepare the
fish for use as fertilizer.
The establishment Of factories was
due to the interesting fact that fresh
fish contains from IS to 80 per cent. OK
water and from to 16 per cent Of oil.
Naturally. water Is of little value "a q
fertilizer, and all that Is needed In this
respect is supplied by gentle showers
from heaven" The oil Is prejudicial
to the decomposition of the fertilizer
when applied to the soil. but IL q useful
by-product and the factories are pro-
vided with cooking and COMPRISING
apparatus for extracting 1t. More
than 1000 900 gallons of oil are boiled
and squeezed annually from the fish
with the corrupted Indian name. Tho
scrap" which results from this Is tho
product used in enriching the soil. Tho
total annual product of menhaden fer
900 tons. valued at 81, $50 900.
Not only the menhaden but the
refuse from dressed flsh. discarded 1T
markets. canneries and homeless fish"
factories, the carcasses OF whales.
skates, horseshoe crabs, oyster shells.
clam shells and seaweed are used Is
plant food. OF seaweed alone about
250. 900 tons are thrown upon the land
each year and the waste fish amounts
to about 10000 tons.
Before steamers were used for taking
the menhaden. large shore seines. made
of cotton twine, were employed. and In
some localities these were owned
jointly by farmers Of the vicinity.
Some Of these seines were 5000 feet
long. frequently the catch At single
haul numbered several hundred thou
sand hsh. although the average haul
was nearer 10000 or 1900. Since
steamers and factories have been em-
ployed in the business the farmers in
q measure have discontinued catching
them. finding 1t more economical to
buy their fertilizer. Indeed. they fro
quently take their catches to the fac
tories. finding 1t AZ economical to buy
the scrap" a. to use the hsh In its
natural state.
Among the flsh sometimes taken In
the nets are the quecr-lookins skates
and bellows fish. In regard to the oil
they contain they are rather dry.
yielding less than pint to q barrel
Of fsh. For this reason they require
/ little treatment for use as fertilizer.
One may sometimes see the skates dry
| ing In the sun on fencelike structures
in long rows, each one hanging by the
head from . hook, its triangular sides
dropping ON either side.