These figures are taken from a report by Professor Schmidt, of Dorpat, on the "Artificial fertilizers at the second Baltic agricultural exhibition, June, 1871," who adds that none of the articles seem to have attained enough importance to secure a place in the wholesale market.

The Norwegian fish guano.

286. By far the most important of European fish-waste products, in fact the only one that has been made in large enough quantities to bring it into very general and widespread use, is the Norwegian fish guano, manufactured from the waste of the fisheries on the Lofoden Islands, and elsewhere on the Norwegian coast.

In the Polar Sea, near the 70th parallel, north latitude, off the extremely wild, rough, and dangerous coast of Northern Norway, near the famous and dreaded maelstrom, lies a group of islands, rough, rocky, and precipitous, the peaks of some shrouded in eternal snow, about 40 in number, and bearing the name Lofoden. The neighboring mainland is inhabited by nomadic tribes of Laplanders. The islands have neither four-footed beasts nor food for them to live upon; but the sea about them teems with fish, and the air with sea-fowl. But few human beings are there, except during the fishing season, from February until April, when from 12,000 to 14,000 fishermen come, with 3,000 to 4,000 boats; bring scanty supplies of coarse bread, dried fish, and bacon; live in mis erable huts, sleep in sheep-skins; and with lines that have sometimes as many as 3,000 hooks apiece, catch from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 codfish per annum. These fish are cut up; the sides are dried and sold as "stock. fish" all over the world. A part of the residue is used in the northern regions as cattle food. The heads and backs were formerly thrown into the sea or left to rot upon the rocks. Of late years, however, they are gathered, dried upon the rocks by the sun's heat, ground in factories that are scattered about in sheltered bays, and thus made into the Norwegian fish guano. A business circular concerning the Lofoden fishery products says that the cods' heads and backbones are collected mostly by women, children, and infirm persons, who cannot take part in the fishing, dried either on the bare rocks or on poles, and then ground, put in bags of about 24 cwt., and shipped; the material delivered at Hamburg at the rate of about £9 per (long) ton. The circular adds that "it has been a great benefit to the Lofoden fisheries to get rid of this waste which formerly spoiled the bottoms of the fish banks, and infected the habors, where in some places it used to lie knee-deep upon the beach." Another account states that the gathering of the refuse has already become an important industry for the poor people there.

The earliest notice I have seen of the Norwegian fish guano is by Stoeckhardt in 1855, who theu reported the manufacture as started on

* Der Chemische Ackersmann, I, 1855, s. 236. See articles by Stoeckhardt and by Meinert in same journal, I, 1856, s. 118; V, 1859, 44; VI, 1860, 59; IX, 1863, 117; XV, 1869, 43; XVI, 1870, 43 and 53; XVI, 1871, 245; and Landw, Centralblatt, 1874, 613; and by Vohl. Dingler's Polyt. Jour., CCXV, 1875, 460.

the Lofoden Island by Dr. Scheibler and Herr Fröhlich. In 1856, Stoeckhardt informs us that a joint stock-company had been formed at Christiana for the manufacture of the guano, and had taken the patent from Dr. K. Hansen and F. C. Schübler. (The Dr. Schiebler above?) The company consisted of these two gentlemen and three others, Messrs. Fröhlich, Broch, and Heftye. In 1859, he reports the manufacture as having finally begun in the past season (1858) on a large scale. In 1860, the guano was offered for sale in Germany, by Mr. Meinert, of Leipsic. In 1863, Mr. Meinert states that, "unfortunately," the fish guano has become so popular in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, that a large part of the supply has been retained there, and not enough will reach Germany to supply the demand. In 1869, Meinert reports to the "Ackersmann" that the manufacture has attained such a degree of perfection that an article can be offered of uniform composition, and containing 8 to 10 per cent. of nitrogen and 10 to 15 per cent. of phosphoric acid.

In 1870, it was stated that the refuse of 4 to 5 million codfish was worked up into guano, while that of the remaining 14 to 15 million was still allowed to go to waste.

In 1871, Meinert, whose accounts of his journeys to Lofoden, published in the "Chemische Ackersmann," are well worth the reading, reports the success of attempts, undertaken by himself, to make guano from whole fish, from kinds whose inferior value for human food had caused them to be sold at very low prices or to be used in Norway for cattle food. From these "waste fish" 200 tons of guano had been prepared, of so good quality that a content of 11 to 12 per cent. nitrogen and 5 to 6 per cent. phosphoric acid. The high proportion of nitrogen is due to the use of the whole fish. It finds rapid sales at higher prices than the ordinary guano.

In 1874, the "Landwirthschaftliches Centralblatt" (XXII, 613) speaks of the Norwegian guano as follows:

"The Norwegian guano, as is well known, is made of the heads. and backs of the cod. These fish are taken from January to May, all along the coast from Finmark to Hammerfest, lat. 68-71 N., but especially on the Lofoden Islands. During the season 2,000 fishermen are engaged. The catch of cod has averaged during the past ten years, according to statistical reports, from 18,000,000 to 22,000,000. The sides of the fish are dried either on lines upheld by posts or upon the rocks. Those prepared in the former way are sold in Spain, Italy, &c., under the name stock-fish; the others are sent to Russia and Sweden, under the name of Klippfisch. The refuse was formerly thrown into the sea or left to the sea fowls, except the small quantity used as fodder *The Dorsch, Gadus callarias, common Cod, and Kabeljau, Gadus molva vel morrhua, Ling, are both said to be taken at Lofoden. Sometimes one and sometimes the other is named as the principal fish of those fisheries. [They are the same. G. B. G.]

Stock, rod, stick; Klippe, rock; so cod. Anglo Saxon gad or goad, a rod, and the Latin gaudus has a corresponding Sanscrit root, cad or gad, a rod. See paper by J. C. Brevoort, on the names of codfish.

for cattle and sheep. The heads (some as large as small calves' heads) and the backs of the cod (Dorsch) form the chief raw material for the fish guauo. They are dried in the air on the rocks, then torn up by ma chines, and finally ground to a product resembling coarse bone meal. Since, however, not inconsiderable quantites of cod are also caught along the Norwegian coast southward from Lofoden, as far as Aalesund, the preparation of fish guano has offered the inhabitants a new and useful industry; the demand has increased every year and since the supply has not sufficed even for the German market, a considerable number of larger or smaller factories have sprung up all along the west coast of Norway. Competition soon led to the manufacture of a more finely ground product, and to the utilization of a large portion of the available material for preparation of fish guano. Nevertheless, a good deal of the material was still allowed to go to waste, so that the production of the guano is capable of further development. Recognizing this fact, Dr. A. Meinert, son and business partner of the original German importer, has, in connection with some German merchants, established two new factories in Norway, one in Lofoden, the other in Hammerfest. The former was completed during the past summer (1874). The guano from these establishments is first steamed, then dried and ground to a fine dust, and is consequently very similar in its action to Peruvian guano."

The report adds that, on account of the difficulty of transporting fish guano to Sweden, factories have been put up in that country also, to supply the home demand.

The most remarkable enterprise in this direction is one for the manu facture of guano from whale refuse, on the boundary between Norway and Russia, beyond the North Cape, in the latitude of 70°. It was undertaken in 1870-1873, by Capt. Svend Foyn, who is described as "the greatest whale fisherman of our time." With his fleet of steam and sailing vessels he visits the coast of Greenland in February to catch seal, and thence sails in March to the North Polar sea in pursuit of whales. He captured, in 1869, thirty-two whales and expected to be able, by use of improved vessels and appliances, to take fifty per annum. A whale, according to Captain Foyn, weighs on an average 230,000 pounds (115 tons); each fish furnishes about 80,000 pounds of fat, several hundred pounds of whalebone, and 100,000 pounds raw stock for fish guano. Fifty whales are expected to produce 2,500 tons of the latter, containing 8 per cent. of nitrogen and 12 per cent. of phos phoric acid. The enterprise seems to have halted somewhat from the great difficulties to be overcome, but at last accounts still promised

success.

The distance from markets and industrial centers, the wildness of the coast, the inclemencies of the weather, and the length of the arctic winter night, have all combined to make the successful manufacture of

the Norwegian products a very difficult matter. The bulk of the products have, I understand, been sold in Germany by Mr. Meinert, who has from the first had control of the trade in that country. Mr. Meinert has managed the business in such a straightforward and rational manner as to secure not only a large personal profit but also the confidence of the agricultural public. This he has done by personally aiding and encouraging the manufacture of an article of high grade and uniform quality, by selling it on the basis of guaranteed analysis, and thus rec ommending to the good sense of the most enlightened farmers.

According to Déharain (Wurz Dict. Ch. I, 1236), a Frenchman, M. Robart, has established a manufactory of fish guano at Lofoden. This is probably the one referred to by Herr Meinert as "an incomplete imitation" of the previous manufactories there, and in aid of which the French Government gave a subvention of 100,000 francs. That so large a gift should be made to aid this enterprise is proof of the importance ascribed to it by the French Government.

According to the "Revue Scientifique," August 25, 1875, M. Levy has lately started an establishment at the French island of St. Pierre, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for the purpose of utilizing the gurry and offal of the codfish, &c., taken on the banks of Newfoundland. All the heads, entrails, &c., are gathered in, and after the extraction of the oil the residue is made into gelatine and fertilizers.

How important such an industry may be made appears from the fact that the waste material of the fisheries of that region is estimated at 120,000,000 pounds per annum.

Manufacture of glue and removal of oil in preparation of Norwegian fish

guano.

287. It is worthy of note, that in the European factories the liquid coming from the steamed or boiled fish, and containing considerable nitrogenous matter in solution, is utilized for the manufacture of a low quality of glue, while in this country the practice is to throw it away.

The Norwegian guanos have generally smaller percentages of fat than occur in the menhaden guanos in this country. But even this small amount is objected to by many, on the ground that it retards the fertilizing action. According to Vohl, this objection has been removed by Radde, of Hamburg, by the manufacture of so-called fatless, evaporated, polar fish guano, in which a minimum of 8 per cent. of non-volatile nitrogen and of 12 per cent. of phosphoric acid is guaranteed, and actual analysis of a sample gave a considerable excess above this minimum. This article is in the form of a fine dry powder, of a yellowish color, with a comparatively feeble odor. It absorbs water rapidly, and when moist putrefies readily at 520, with copious formation of ammonia. It yields on ignition 37 to 38 per cent. of ash.

Success of fish guano as a fertilizer in Europe.

288. A few words upon the use of fish guano in Europe may be in place here.

In 1855 Professor Stoeckhardt, of Tharand, wrote* of fish-refuse as

a manure:

"Fish forms the basis of all natural guanos, since it forms the sole food of the sea-birds (and seals, &c.), from whose excrement guano is formed. * What is accomplished naturally here by the diges tive processes of the bird, pulverization, fine division and concentration, must be done artificially by the ingenuity of the chemist. If the chemical and mechanical operations necessary for working over the crude material rapidly, on a large scale, into a product of good quality and at low price, can be devised, then it is for the interest of agricul ture to be put as quickly as possible in possession of this product, whose office it may be to break the monopoly held by guano."

After describing at length the manufacture, composition, and fertilizing effects of materials prepared from fish, he warmly recommends them to the farmers of Germany as the " guano of the future."

At this time the fish guano was just coming into the European market; but little was known from experience or experiment as to its actual value for farming. In 1869, after it had stood the tests of repeated chemical analyses, gone through the trial of manifold field experiments, and run the gauntlet of practical farmers' experience, with ever-increas ing popularity and favor, Stoeckhardt wrote again :

"Fish guano has entirely fulfilled the prophecy which I made for it fourteen years ago, at its first entrance into the commercial world, and it is to be desired in the interest of agriculture that its manufacture may assume ever-increasing dimensions."

The manufacture of fish fertilizers in the United States.

289. We may now return to the manufacture of fish fertilizers in the United States.

At present nearly all the material in our market is made from the menhaden, which after the extraction of the oil leaves a residue which is prepared in various forms for fertilizers.

The attempt of Mr. Lewis in East Haven, Conn., in 1848, to make a concentrated fertilizer from menhaden has been referred to. The first practical success in this direction was attained by Mr. W. D. Hall in 1853. "He discovered how the oil might be extracted from the fresh fish in a few hours' treatment, leaving the 'pomace' or 'scrap' in such a condition of half-dryness that it could be stored or barreled and transported at once, or could be further dried by exposure to the sun and converted by grinding into fish guano."" The history of the mauufacture of oil from menhaden since that time is given very fully in Mr. Goode's report on the menhaden.

* Der Chemische Ackersmann, 1855, 1. 236.