The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-08-15
NEW INDUSTRY
|. FOR STATE IN
UTILIZING OF
SHRIMP SCRAP
Plant viii BE Built at Fer
nandina to Manufacture
Thousands OF Tons of
Waste Material into Fertil-
izer for Sole Distribution in
Florida.

with the Immediate erection Of 8
factory to convert shrimp scrap into
fertilizer, FSrnandin9 will have the
pioneer plant In the United States for
the utilization Of this material An
Rouneemenfs of tho new industry was
made today by G. Nash Reid. manager
Of the Jacksonville Office OF the Nj
trate Agencies Company
Experiments on the possibilities OF
translating the waste from shrimp into
q fertilizer have been under way Bino~
April, the idea for developing such an
industry having originated In the
JaGixsonviIfe ofloe. II Is only wfthtn
the Last four or five days, howeves,
that final "details for the establishment
Of the plant At E'ernandtna have been
completed
Work win commence on the building
at once, Mr.. Reid stated this morning
and the initial expenditure Will be be-
tween $4,000 and $50, Operations
win begin Tout October l. The out
pat OF fertilizer will be just sufficient
for Florida, according to Mr. Reid, and
ket for 4 Wholesale fertilizer manUfAc-
turers. A
EQnaa to Peruvian Guan0.
The Shrimp scrap has very similar
and in fact about the Same ingredients
as those found In Peruvian Guan0, and
from a. fertilization standpoint is
equally as valuable as tho Peruvian
product considered the most lmpor-
tant plant food on the market.
However, owing to the fact that
PeruVian guano is obtained from the
places where pelicans cOngregate, and
ts rarely found In quantities of size
except In Peru, ii is only put on the
market Every four or Ave years and is
too scarce for general use. The three
plant foods that constitute fertilizer
are 2mlnOnia, potash and phosphOr1o
acid, all of which originate practically
III the same manner as the Peruvian
guano In view of these facts, Mr..
Reid declared today, the value of dis
covering aD process to make the shrimp
scrap into fertilizer can be readily
seen. ia
Some idea OF what the industry win
mean to Fernandina can be gained
from the fact that this town now ships
more shrimp than any one place In the
United States. The catch last year
ranged UPWARD to 10000 tons, a feet
of 200 boats being engaged in catching
shrimp for the Fernandina market
Win eliminate Losa.
During the experiments IL making
shrimp scrap into fertilizer, 1t was
found that As per cent of tho shrimp
is head, which is removed and thrown
away befofe the shrimp are icod and
shipped shrimp Gamers lose an even
bigger percentage of the shrimp ia
canning, 65 per cent, which cOnsti-
tutee the head and tail, being wasted.
The scrap will BIO collected nightly
Ia motor trucks, hauled to the plant
and put through q drying and grind
ing process Owing to tho speedy de-
composition of the waste quick pro-
cess is necessary.
While the manufacture OF shrimp
scrap into fertiliser has been tried In
a small way before this 10 the flrst
time an entirely successful process has
Ibeen found, MI. Reid said today
In addition to the fertilizer o stock
food will be made out OF the shrimp
scrap. The Erernandine plant win be
under the superv lsion and direction eS
the Iacksonville oeflcA