i8 



As compared with gutted and dried sardine they 

 have disadvantages ; they require more salt ; they 

 are moist — though not in brine — and consequently 

 above twice as heavy, and they require better packing ; 

 hence both packing and transport charges are compara- 

 tively heavy. Per contra, they provide more and more 

 digestible nutriment, while the cost of salt is balanced 

 by the absence of the cost and heavy loss of gutting. 

 The advantaoe, however, which outweighs all else is 

 that by the rapidity and ease of curing any desired 

 quantity of sardines may now be turned into good food ; 

 under this method it is even possible to take out a large 

 boat to the sardine grounds, if at all distant, and place 

 the fish at once in salt while at sea. Moreover, they 

 can be taken from the tubs at any time and smoked or 

 otherwise dealt with. 



On the large scale these pilchard-cured fish can be 

 landed in Madras at Rs. 45 to Rs. 50 per ton of cured 

 fish, all costs, curers' profit, packing and rail charges 

 included, or 50 to 45 lb. per rupee ; hence they can 

 there be sold retail at 2 lb. per anna. The cost may 

 eventually be somewhat decreased. 



But the method of saltinor unofutted sardine enables 

 us to deal with the fish in another way ; by putting the 

 fish into salt at 1 to 7 (i lb. salt to 7 lb. fish) any quan- 

 tity of fish can be made safe for some days and can be 

 taken out at leisure and dried or smoked ; in this way 

 while the delay and cost of gutting is avoided, the 

 fish, being dried, can be very cheaply packed and 

 transported ; this is a middle way between the pilchard 

 cure and the present dry cure of gutted fish. 



12. Fish-oil and guano. — But for some years, in the 

 absence of rapid curing, sardines will be made into 

 fertiliser, and it has been therefore necessary to introduce 

 better methods by which the valuable oil should not be 

 wasted while the nitrogen and phosphoric acid should be 

 fully conserved. The matter was mentioned in para- 

 graph 23 of my previous annual report and has now 

 been carried a stage further both by Mr. U. Choyi and 

 myself. Mr. Choyi has now three presses and has 

 succeeded in placing marketable crude brown oil, and 

 good guano of 8"3 per cent nitrogen and 7*95 per cent 

 phosphoric acid, on the market at remunerative rates. 

 My own work was preliminary only, intended to devise 



