75 



fairly succeeded ; this class offish, now including" prawns, 

 will keep good for some days and eat very well. But 

 when in England in 1912 other methods of keeping fish 

 fresh v/ere studied, two of which were specially noticed 

 that year by the trade. One, viz., the method of conserva- 

 tion by CO^ (carbonic acid gas) is not practicable in this 

 country, demanding plant and materials which are very 

 expensive, while the cost of vessels strong enough to 

 contain gas at a pressure of several atmospheres and, 

 above all, the cost of transport of fish by road and rail in 

 such vessels, puts the process — even if successful — out 

 of court. The other method (Henderson's) was taught 

 me by the inventor and has great possibilities; he has 

 generously permitted us to use his process freely in India 

 " for the good of the people " and has communicated 

 further improvements ; refrigeration is the method 

 adopted but the details difter largely from those of 

 ordinary freezing and packing in ice, should make both 

 the freezing and the transport cheaper, and should give 

 far more satisfactory results. The method was tried in 

 an imperfect way — imperfect for want of the correct 

 plant - but the results were eminently satisfactory ; the 

 cost, as carried out, was unduly high since ice at six pies 

 per pound had to be substituted for mechanical refrigera- 

 tion, but the result showed that fish could be despatched 

 zvithoiit ice and yet keep perfectly good, even on the 

 plains, for three days ; fish sent (without ice) to Tuticorin, 

 etc., was excellent on the third day. With plant recently 

 sanctioned by Goverrmient this line of experiment will be 

 pursued during the current year. 



15. Pisciculture '-Marine. — The detailed plan and 

 estimates for the 160 acre 7 lagoon fish-farm at Tuticorin 

 mentioned in paragraph 28 of last year's report were not 

 received from the Public Works Department in time for 

 execution during the year under report. 



The oyster farm at Pulicat was continued by Mr. 

 Hornell as Marine Assistant, and proved many things ; 

 conclusively that excellent oysters can be cultivated in 

 sanitary conditions with much ease and profit and 

 marketed in the best condition within 20 months from 

 spat-fall ; in July 191 2 the oysters spawned in November 

 19 10 were fully mature and in splendid condition for 

 market. But it is also true that, as in other tropical 

 enterprises, especially those of the cultivation of the soil, 



