  I. OBSERVATIONS ON FISH-GUANO.“The importance of this field of industry has been fully appreciated in France, and a factory has been established at Concarneau, in the department of Finisterre. A full report of a visit to the factory having been made by the distinguished chemist M. Payen, and the well-known agriculturist M. Pommier, to the French Agricultural Society, we purpose presenting our readers with the chief points contained in that report, in the hope that another year may not pass over without some attempt of the like kind being made upon our coasts. “The experiments which led to the establishment of the factory, of which we are now to speak, were made by a M. de Molon, and have extended over a period of four years. On several occasions he had employed the offal obtained in the preparation of sardines, on the coast of Brittany, to manure his land in Finisterre. The results which he obtained led him to imagine that this offal, and a multitude of marine fish of little commercial value, might furnish an important resource to agriculture. This fact, observed since a long time, especially in countries where deep-sea fishing is a permanent industry, was not new; but such a manure was by its very nature restricted to the agriculture of the coasts—fish or fish-offal not being capable of being economically transported more than short distances. It is also evident that these materials should be immediately employed—that they are not susceptible of preservation, and that the manure not admitting of being applied to the soil, except at certain seasons, it must at once be evident that the employment of fish-offal, spite of its richness in fecundating elements, could never be generalised, or offer large resources to agriculture. “M. de Molon, however, conceived that a far vaster and more advantageous agricultural resource might be drawn from this inexhaustible wealth of the ocean, by so treating the offal of the coast fisheries, and the immense quantities of common fish which are of no use to the fishermen, as to ensure their preservation, concentrate their fecundatory properties, and render them as transportable as Peruvian guano—to do, in fine, what we have shown to be practicable in our former article. “M. de Molon made a number of experiments from this point of view, and finally settled upon this plan: To boil the fish; to extract as much as possible of the water and oil which they contain; dry them and reduce them to powder. After he had obtained this powder in a perfectly dry state he had it analysed, first by M. Moride, at Nantes; then at Rennes, by M. Malaguti; and finally, by M. Payen, in Paris. “These analyses, several times repeated, yielded as a mean the following percentage as results:—
“In other words, these repeated analyses indicate that dried fish-powder would contain about— 12 per cent of nitrogen, and that is to say, it would be nearly as rich as the best Peruvian guano. (According to the results of analyses made on herrings, an average manure made from that fish, and containing 10 per cent of water, would contain about 13½ per cent of nitrogen, and between 11 and 12 per cent of bone earth. The small fish containing but little bone earth accounts for the difference in both cases.) To the scientific analysis M. de Molon wished to add the sanction of practice; he applied 400 kilogrammes (880·8 lbs.) per hectare (2 acres, 1 rood, “Having made his calculations, his ideas were at once directed to Newfoundland, where the produce of the cod-fishery in a fresh condition amounts to more than 1,400,000 tons annually. “The cod, previous to being salted and dried, is deprived of its head, its intestines, and the backbone, which together make about one-half of its total weight. This offal, which amounts to at least 700,000 tons, is thrown into the sea, or is lost without utility. “In 1850 M. de Molon fitted out a vessel, and confided his project to one of his brothers, furnishing him with the utensils necessary to experiment upon and manufacture the fish-powder. The results of this voyage confirmed his anticipations, and M. de Molon junior brought back to France a certain quantity of fish-manure, which was found to be identical in composition with that manufactured in France. “In 1851 M. de Molon junior again departed for Newfoundland, taking with him all the means of manufacturing, the materials necessary to construct a factory, and houses for one hundred and fifty workmen, whom he also took with him; finally, all the means necessary to found a permanent establishment. He fixed himself at Kerpon, at the extremity of the island, near the Strait of Belle-isle, on a creek which was visited every year by a great number of fishing vessels, and whose shores abound in fish. At present this establishment is in regular work, and has, we believe, sent within the last two or three months a considerable quantity of fish-manure to France. “Whilst his younger brother was thus establishing himself in Newfoundland, M. de Molon wished to have in France an establishment of the same kind placed immediately under his own eyes, which would serve to perfect the process of manufacture, and offer to all the practical confirmation of facts, the importance of which “This factory was erected by them at Concarneau, between Lorient and Brest, in the department of Finisterre. This is a mere fishing village, not far from the town of Quimper, containing scarcely two thousand inhabitants, and built upon a rock in the middle of a bay formed by the ocean. The catching and preparation of the sardine, which employs about three hundred to four hundred boats annually, is almost the only industry of the district, if we except a factory for the manufacture of iodine. “The factory of MM. de Molon and Thurnyssen is placed at the end of the port, and the boats come and discharge their fish under its walls. In its actual condition this factory is capable of manufacturing daily about 4 to 5 tons of fish-manure, in a perfectly dry condition, which represents 16 to 20 tons of fish or of fish-offal in its fresh state. The proprietors receive all the offal of the curing-houses of Concarneau and those of Lorient; and in addition all the coarse fish which were previously thrown into the sea, or which were even abandoned on the very quays of Concarneau, to the great detriment of public health. “The factory is entirely constructed of deal planks—that is to say, with all the economy possible, and contains the following articles of plant: A steam-engine of ten-horse power, and a boiler of eighteen-horse power; two boiling-pans À la bascule, with steam-jackets for boiling the fish at the temperature of a water bath; twenty-four screw presses to press the material when boiled; a rasp exactly similar to those employed in beet-sugar factories; a large stove; a Chaussenot’s coccle-furnace, for heating the stove; a conical iron mill, similar to a coffee-mill. “The following is the mode of employing these various utensils: The fish or the offal is introduced by the upper part of the boiling-pans into the interior, one of which is capable of containing about 10 cwts., and the other from 16 cwts. to one ton. The vessel is then hermetically closed, and steam of about 50 to 55 lbs. pressure admitted into the steam-jacket, the steam-room of which is about two inches wide, and into a tube nearly eight inches in diameter, placed “The great difficulty was to find a means of submitting this fish-magma to the action of the press without losing the fine portions. This was accomplished in this way: Under each of the presses is placed a cylinder of sheet iron open at both ends, about twenty inches high, and twelve inches in diameter. This cylinder is strengthened by four small iron rings or hoops, and is pierced with a number of very fine holes. A loose bottom or wooden plate is fitted into this cylinder, which is then nearly filled with the boiled fish, and upon this is laid another plate of wood similar to the bottom. One or two blocks are then laid upon this cover, and when all the cylinders are filled, a man turns alternately the screw of each press. In proportion as the pressure operates, the water and oil contained in the fish is seen to exude from the perforations of the cylinder. These liquids flow into gutters which conduct them to a common channel by which they flow into barrels placed underneath, and so graduated that when the first is filled, the overflow passes into the second, and so on in succession, without the intervention of any workman. After reposing for some time, the oil floats on the surface, and is collected and stored in barrels in the cellar. The average quantity of fish-oil thus extracted represents very nearly 2½ per cent of the fresh fish. “When the boiled mass is sufficiently pressed, the presses are loosened, and the cylinders removed and turned upside down, close to the reservoir, to allow any liquid which may have mounted to the surface to flow away; on then tapping the bottom wooden plate, the pressed mass may be taken out of the cylinder in the form of two compact cakes about four inches in thickness. These cakes are immediately conveyed by a workman to the hopper of the rasp, placed close at hand; this rasp, set in motion by the steam-engine, reduces the cakes to a sort of pulp, which is carried by children as fast as formed to the stove. “The stove, situate on the first floor, is externally 20 metres “When the rasped fish-cake is put upon a frame, it is introduced into the stove through one of the openings just mentioned; a second is then introduced, which causes the first to slide along the bars; then a third, and so on until twenty have been placed. The second series of trays is then introduced in the same way by the opening next above. The operation is proceeded with in this way until the five series are introduced into each of the five chambers. It takes about two hours to two hours and a half to fill the stove with the five hundred trays which it is capable of receiving. “A current of air heated by the coccle-oven of Chaussenot to a temperature of from 140° to 158° Fahr., circulates through the five chambers, according as each is filled with the trays of fish, the draft being maintained by a chimney. “As soon as the last tray is introduced into the stove, the first is fit to be withdrawn. This is effected in the simplest manner; a child placed at one extremity of the stove introduces a tray freshly charged, this pushes without any effort the whole series ranged upon the bars, and causes the last in the series at the lower end of the stove to slide out, where it is received by another child; a fresh tray is again introduced, and another is pushed out, and so on for the whole stove. In this way the action of the stove is constant, being filled as fast as it is emptied, without the workpeople being exposed to the action of the heat, and without suffering in the least from it, and being nevertheless able to communicate to one another the details of the work, the chambers acting as conductors for the voice. “This stove constitutes one of the most important features in “According as the dried fish is withdrawn from the chambers it is thrown into a heap, on a board close by, from which it is put with a shovel into the mill-hopper by a child. The mill reduces it to a sufficiently fine and perfectly dry powder, which is at once put in sacks or casks, and sealed in order that there may be no means of adulterating it. “To any one acquainted with the processes and machinery employed in the manufacture of beet-sugar, it will at once be evident that the organisation of the process just described was the result of an acquaintance with that manufacture. This is another instance of the benefits conferred upon France by the beet-sugar industry, for to that branch of manufacture it may be truly said to owe the rise of its present manufacturing system. A branch of industry requiring a combination of chemical and mechanical skill carried on in the midst of a rural population, especially if connected with agriculture, has far more influence upon the permanent prosperity of a people materially and intellectually, than the greatest branch of industry entirely confined to the civic population. “To carry on all the operations just described, only six men are employed at Concarneau, who receive about 1s. a day, and ten children, who receive from sixpence to sevenpence. Under those conditions, and without working at night, this factory is capable, as we have already remarked, of producing from four to five tons of dry manure a day, representing about eighteen to twenty tons of fish or offal; that is, one hundred parts of fresh fish yield about twenty-two parts of fish-powder. By working at night, which will be done during the ensuing year, when the fishery shall have been better organised, this establishment will be able to produce from eight to ten tons of manure. M. de Molon estimates the number of days in the year during which the fishermen could fish at from 200 to 250. In only counting 200 working days, the establishment at Concarneau could thus produce from 1600 to 2000 tons of manure annually, which, at the rate of three cwts. per statute acre, would suffice to manure from 10,000 to 13,000 acres of land, and would “The factory of Concarneau, with the organised fishery which M. de Molon intends to establish (sixty to seventy-eight well-equipped boats), and by doubling its present plant, which is also intended, will quadruple the quantity of dry manure which is now produced in working only ten hours per day. “In addition to the 180 kilogrammes of coal burned in heating the stove, we may add that 130 more (286½ lbs.) are consumed by the steam-engine, making a total of 230 kilogrammes, or little more than four and a half cwts., or about one cwt. of coal to one ton of manure. “The fish-manure fetches about 8s. per cwt. in the locality, and is eagerly sought after by the farmers, who expect the most signal results to agriculture from the extension of the manufacture; while the oil which, as already remarked, constitutes about 2½ per cent of the raw fish, would be worth from 3s. to 3s. 4d. per gallon. These figures show at once that the manufacture must be profitable—a fact which is fully guaranteed by Messrs. Payen and Pommier, who, as a commission sent from the Agricultural Society in order to report upon the project, had the privilege of examining the books of the concern, and of thus satisfying themselves of its commercial success. “The factory of Concarneau, as we have already noticed, was only founded in order to serve as a model, not alone for those which may be established on different points of the French coast, but also in foreign countries. In addition to the factory established under the superintendence of M. de Molon junior, in Newfoundland, and which in its actual condition is capable of furnishing from 8000 to 10,000 tons of manure annually, it is proposed to establish others on the same coast, and also on the coasts of the North Sea, on such a “When we recollect what a large amount of offal has hitherto been wasted upon our coasts, the vast quantity of coarse fish which have been rejected and thrown again into the sea; but above all, when we consider the enormous extent of ocean, teeming with animal life, which has contributed so little to the sustenance of mankind, we cannot help thinking that at Concarneau has been laid the foundation of a great branch of industry, which is destined to renovate the worn-out soils of the richly-populated countries of Europe.” II. LIST OF AUTHORITIES.Having been frequently asked by correspondents for a list of the chief authorities on fish, I beg to subjoin the titles of a few of the works I have had occasion to consult while preparing this volume:— A Review of the Domestic Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland, by Robert Fraser, Esq. Edinburgh, 1818. A Short Narrative of the Proceedings of the Society appointed to manage the British White Herring Fishery, etc., by Thos. Cole. London, 1750. A Treatise on Food and Diet, by Jonathan Pereira, M.D., etc., 1843. London: Longman and Co. A Treatise on the Management of Fresh-Water Fish, by Gottlieb Boccius, 1841. London: Van Voorst. An Account of the Fish-Pool, etc., by Sir Richard Steell. London, 1718. An Account of Three New Specimens of British Fishes, by Richard Parnell, 1837. Royal Society, Edinburgh. An Essay towards a Natural History of the Herring, by James Solas Dodd, Surgeon. London, 1752. Angler’s and Tourist’s Guide, by Andrew Young, Invershin, 1857. A. and C. Black, Edinburgh. British Fish and Fisheries. Religious Tract Society. Ceylon, Notes on, by James Steuart, Esq. of Colpetty. Printed for Private Circulation, 1862. Couch’s Fishes of the British Islands, 1865. Groombridge. Directions for Taking and Curing Herrings; and for Curing Cod, Ling, Elements de Pisciculture, par M. Isidore L’Amy. Paris, 1855. Evidence of the Royal Commission on the operation of the Acts relating to Trawling for Herring on the Coasts of Scotland. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1863. Experimental Observations on the Development and Growth of Salmon Fry, etc., by John Shaw, 1840. Edinburgh: A. and C. Black. Fish and Fishing in the Lone Glens of Scotland, by Dr. Knox, 1854. Routledge and Co. Fish-Hatching, by Frank T. Buckland, 1863. Tinsley Brothers. Fisheries, The, considered as a National Resource, etc., 1856. Milliken, Dublin. Forrester’s Fish and Fishing in the United States, 1864. Townsend, New York. Guide du Pisciculture, par J. Remy, 1854. Paris: Lacroix. Guide Pratique du Pisciculture, par Pierre Carbonnier, 1864. Paris: Lacroix. Herring-Fishery, on the Existing State of the, 1854. Herald Office, Aberdeen. Howitt’s Angler’s Manual, 1808. Liverpool. Ichthyonomy, 1857. Swinnerton and Brown, Macclesfield. Illustrated London Almanac, 1864. London. Irish Quarterly Review. W.B. Kelly, Dublin. L’Alienation des Rivages, par M. Coste. Paris, 1863. La PÊche en Eau Douce et en Eau SalÉe, par Alphonse Karr, 1860. Paris: Michel Levy Freres. Letter to a Member of Parliament recommending the Improvement of the Irish Fishery. Dublin, 1729. Multiplication Artificelle des Poissons, par J.P. J. Koltz. Paris: Lacroix. Natural History and Habits of the Salmon, etc., by Andrew Young, 1854. Longman and Co. Natural History of the Salmon, as ascertained at Stormontfield. By William Brown, 1862. Glasgow: Thomas Murray. Naturalist’s Library, by Sir William Jardine, 1843. Edinburgh. Notice Historique sur L’Etablissement de Pisciculture de Huningue, 1862. Strasbourg: Berger Levrault. Note sur les Huitrieres Artificelles de Terrains Emergents, par M. Coste. Paris. Observations on the Fisheries of the West Coast of Ireland, etc., by Thomas Edward Symons, 1856. London: Chapman and Hall. Oyster, The, where, how, and when to find, breed, cook, and eat it. Trubner and Co. Pisciculture, Pisciculteurs, et Poissons, par Eugene Voel, 1856. Paris: F. Chamerot. Pisciculture et la Production des Sangsues, par Auguste Jourdier, 1856. Paris: Hatchette and Co. Pisciculture et Culture des Eaux, par P. Trigneaux. Paris: Libraire Agricole de la Maison Rustique. Pisciculture Pratique et sur l’Eleve et la Multiplication des Sangsues, par Quenard, 1855. Paris: De Dusacq. Propagation of Oysters, by M. Coste and Dr. Kemmerer. Brighton, 1864. Pearce. Proposals for Printing by Subscription a Complete Natural History of Esculent Fish, etc., by James Solas Dodd. Report by the Commissioners for the British Fisheries of their Proceedings in the Year ended 31st December 1862, being the Fishing of 1862. Ditto for the years 1863-64. Reports of the Commissioners of Crown Lands of Canada, 1863-64-65. Report of the Royal Commissioners on the operation of the Acts relating to Trawling for Herring on the Coasts of Scotland. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1863. Salmon and other Fish, Propagation of, by Edward and Thomas Ashworth, 1853. E.H. King, Stockport. Sea-Side and Aquarium, by John Harper, 1858. Nimmo, Edinburgh. Sea-Side Divinity, by the Rev. Robert W. Fraser, M.A., 1861. J. Hogg and Sons. Shetland, Description of the Island of, etc., 1753. James, London. Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon, by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, 1861. London: Longman and Co. The Field, the Country Gentleman’s Newspaper. The Herring, its Natural History and National Importance, by John Mitchell, F.R.S., etc. Edinburgh, 1864. The Interest of Scotland Considered, etc. Edinburgh, 1733. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained, etc., by Alexander Monro, M.D. Edinburgh, 1785. The Young Angler’s Guide, etc., 1839. J. Cheek, London. Tweed Fisheries Acts, 1857-59. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Vacation Tourists, 1862-3. London: Macmillan, 1864. Voyage d’Exploration sur la Littoral de la France et de L’Italie, par M. Coste. Paris, 1861, Imprimerie ImpÉriale. Yarrell’s British Fishes. London: Van Voorst. ? Various numbers of Macmillan’s Magazine, the Cornhill Magazine, etc., have also been consulted, and quoted from, by permission of the publishers. III. WICK HERRING HARVEST OF 1865.
IV. TOTAL CATCH of HERRINGS at all the Stations on the North-East Coast during the last Five Years.
Estimated Number of Hands Employed—1865.
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