formed of strong wooden slats, bound and lined with heavy iron. These are rolled under a solid, stationary head, fitting closely the inside of the curb, and against which the fish are pressed, as the curb is slowly but powerfully raised by a hydraulic press. The oil and the water absorbed by the fish in boiling are pressed out through the slats and carried by leaders to the tanks in the shed by the side of the factory, where the oilman skims, boils, and otherwise prepares it for barreling. As soon as the pressure is taken off, the curb slowly resumes its position on the railway, and is pushed to where a man stands ready to remove the cheese as it falls from the curb, upon the opening of its hinged bottom. This cheese or scrap cake is ground to different degrees of fineness, to form the fish guano. This substance, being rich in ammonia-producing material, is used by some manufacturers of fertilizers to supply ammonia to phosphates that are deficient in that constituent."

The model of a factory in the National Museum.

245. A complete model of the oil-factory of Joseph Church & Co., at Round Pond, Me., was exhibited in the Department of Fisheries in the United States Government building at the Philadelphia Exhibition. It is now deposited in the United States National Museum.

The cost of an oil factory.

246. The larger part of the cost of an oil factory consists in the machinery, as the buildings are always of wood, substantial but cheap. The amount invested in factories by different manufacturers appears to range from $2,000 to $65,000. The average amount invested in the fourteen factories of the Maine Association is $22,600, but the general average will not probably exceed $12,000 or $15,000.

Mr. Church, of Tiverton, R. I., speaking of the establishments on Narragansett Bay, remarks that a factory ready for business, including buildings, tanks, boilers, hydraulic presses, oil-room, &c., of a capacity to cook and press 800 barrels (200,000) in a day, costs not far from $14,000. A hydraulic press costs about $1,200; in 1877, $700.

Mr. Miles, of Milford, Conn., states that boilers cost from $2,000 to $4,000, hydraulic presses with curbs and fixtures $2,000; engines, pumps, shafting, and pulleys, together with the necessary buildings, bring the cost of the factory to from $10,000 to $50,000.

Capt. B. H. Sisson, of Greenport, N. Y., estimates the cost of boilers, engine, piping, hydraulic press worked by steam, steam drying machines, and steam hoisting apparatus, to cost from $10,000 to $25,000 for each factory.

Mr. Dudley states that a factory running three or four gangs of fishermen costs from $20,000 to $30,000.

The capital invested in the factory is one-half of the whole amount. The fourteen establishments of the Maine Association had in 1874 $316,000 in buildings and machinery and $390,000 in "gear"; that is,

in steamers, sailing-vessels, small boats, and nets; an average of $27,800 to each for gear against $22,600 for factory.

In Connecticut, according to Mr. Dudley, about the same proportion holds.

The total amount of capital invested in the several companies is given, by Mr. Jasper Pryer, as follows:

The total amount here specified is $1,857,500. It should be noted that several companies are not reported.

Organization of the fishing gangs.

247. "In the early days of the business," says Mr. Dudley, "the manufacturers did not own the fishing-vessels, nor were they interested pecuniarily in the fishery; they bought the fish from independent fishermen. This method was found unsatisfactory; the fishermen sold to the highest bidder, and the supply was uncertain. Of late years the company owns the vessels which supply it with fish. The crew work upon shares, as in other fisheries. In the settlement, at the end of the season, a sailing-vessel, with seine and gear, draws one-third of the net proceeds; a steamer, one-half; the remainder is divided by the crew, the captain receiving an ordinary share, in addition to which he is paid a salary by the company, either fixed or proportionate to the success of the season's work. It is not uncommon for a successful captain to receive a “bonus” of $500, or sometimes $1,000. In settling the season's account, the total catch is paid for at a rate proportionate to the yield of oil. In 1876, the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company paid $1.25 per thousand. The company usually advances pay to the men to the extent of $1 a thousand, and at the end of the season a final settlement is made. The crew of a sailing. vessel will average form $35 to $75 a month; the crew of a steamer somewhat more."

Advantages claimed for floating factories.

248. Floating factories are in use chiefly on Long Island Sound; in whose protected waters they operate to great advantage. They are now going out of use on account of the introduction of steamers. They are usually built upon the hull of some old vessel, and are towed from point to point, gathering the fish from the smacks and working them up into oil and guano as they move. Some of them are fitted up with machinery for very extensive manufacture. Two important objects are attained by the owners of floating factories: the objection to their business arising from the offensive odor is to a considerable extent removed; by following the movements of the fish time and expense are saved, for by bring. ing the factory to the fish they obviate the necessity of having a fleet of lighters to carry the fish to the factory, which might often require two or three days. There are five of these factories; one owned at Milford, Conn., and four at Greenport, N. Y.

Mr. Goodale's improved method.

249. I quote from Mr. Maddocks's excellent little report the following account of an improved process devised by Mr. Goodale:

"As now generally managed, the scrap remains in large heaps until shipped, in autumn or winter, to the points of manufacture into, or incorporation with, superphosphate. In this time a portion of the oil and water leaks away, so as to leave about 10 to 15 per cent. of the former, and 48 to 53 per cent. of the latter. The elimination of the water is an advantage, but the specified per cent. of oil is lost; and a portion of nitrogen is also lost, resulting from the partial decomposition of the mass, the formation and escape of ammonia. It were better, if practicable, to drive off the water at once upon withdrawal from the press, so as to prevent the loss in question.

"What has hitherto prevented the driving off of the water immediately by artificial heat has been the presence of so much oil, together with the gelatinous or gluey matter which is developed during the cooking, chiefly from the skins and bones. These render the process of drying the scrap a very difficult and tedious one, so much so that comparatively little has been put into market in that desirable form. The recent discovery of an easy and simple process for removing the larger part of the oil, and also at the same time the gelatinous hinderance to drying, gives promise of a speedy change in this respect.

"While pursuing investigations relative to utilizing the menhaden as a source of concentrated food, before referred to, Mr. S. L. Goodale, well known as a chemist as well as for his eminent services to the State as secretary of the board of agriculture, found, by thoroughly washing the scrap as it came from the press, with sufficient hot water and agitation, that the oil globules were liberated from their entanglements in the fleshy tissues, and also from the creamy mixture with the gluey matter into which they were forced by the pressing, so that the greater part of it could be readily recovered by draining and re-pressing; and also that after such washing the scrap would bear heavier pressure than at first without squirting.' By this easy process the oil product is largely increased, the scrap is left free from the gluey hinderance to drying, and contains less water to be dried out.

"It may appear strange that so simple a method should not have been discovered sooner, but such is the fact. Work had been done on both sides of it. Re-pressing had been tried, using extra strong curbs, with very powerful pressure, but it failed to give satisfactory results. Recooking had been resorted to, which resulted in injury to the oil, and in the development of an additional amount of the gelatinous matter. It is now seen that a simple thorough washing in hot water accomplishes the desired end with neither of these objectionable results. Scrap made by this process last August (1877), and dried in the open air, was lately analyzed at the agricultural experiment station of Connecticut, and the statement of the director, Prof. S. W. Johnson, of New Haven, shows

the proportion of moisture to be reduced to 11.45 per cent., or about onefifth that contained in the scrap fresh from the press, and the proportion of oil to 4.65 per cent., thus proving that the content of oil in the washed scrap as it came from the press (before drying it) had been reduced to less than 2 per cent. According to these figures, the proportion of oil hitherto lost is, by the new process, reduced from an average of, say, 15 per cent. of the weight of the scrap as it commonly issues from the press, to about 2 per cent.; the balance, say, 12 or 13 per cent., is saved. Let it be assumed, however, that only 10 per cent. can be realized in practice, and that the annual outturn of scrap from the factories of the Maine Association is only 40,000,000 pounds. This would give an annual saving of 4,000,000 pounds of oil, or 533,000 gallons, worth at current prices at market for 1877, 40 cents per gallon, $213,200."

Proposed chemical methods.

250. Other methods of extracting the oil from fish scrap have been proposed, but their adaptability is not yet so certainly proved as to warrant their adoption by manufacturers.

The proposed plans involve the use of the fumes of benzine, or bisulphide of carbon, which are brought into contact with the fish in air-tight chambers. The oil is absorbed by these substances, and collects in tanks in the floors of the chambers. Any surplus of benzine or bisulphide of carbon which may remain in the oil is expelled by distillation.

The naphtha process for extracting the oil, remarks Mr. Maddocks, consists in subjecting the scrap, in an inclined iron cylinder, to the action of vapors of naphtha, which combine with the oil, and the latter in a state of solution filters away at the lower end of the cylinder. The naphtha is then recovered by evaporation. The process is slow, costly, and dangerous.

Proposed mechanical methods.

251. It has been suggested that a recently invented filter-press, the invention of Mr. John Bowing, is well adapted for the extraction of oil from the menhaden and the formation of the residue into cakes. It is probably too small for the extended operations of manufacturers, but may be very serviceable for the use of refiners. Mr. C. B. Norton, 25 Astor House, N. Y., is the American agent.

44.-VALUE OF FISH FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES.

Prices of fish at different seasons.

252. The price of fresh menhaden cannot be definitely stated, since it varies from week to week with the abundance and fatness of the fish and the needs of individual manufacturers.

Many factories rely entirely upon their own "gangs" for their sup plies; some others buy the fish of the vessels engaged in the trade,