l62 



all salt fish, as much depends upon the cooks as on 

 the curer ; salt mackerel prepared in my own house were 

 excellent whether plain boiled, broiled, as fish balls, or 

 in curry, but the soldiers' cooks did not approve of 

 them. The condimented mackerel are excellent for 

 those, especially the poor, who only require a small 

 portion as a relish with rice or other cereals. 



7. The experiments in vinegar and glue were not 

 continued, partly because the demands of the directorate, 

 of the soap factory, and of the Industrial Commission 

 gave less opportunity than ever for personal attention 

 and for improvement of plant and methods, partly because 

 the climate of the plains does not lend itself to either 

 manufacture ; unless artificially cooled rooms are avail- 

 able the evaporation of spirit, the formation of volatile 

 aldehyde and the inefficiency of the bacteria, render vine- 

 gar making too wasteful for ordinary profit. The matter 

 is worth attention in the breweries of Ootacamund or 

 the distilleries on the coast where spirit is cheap and 

 refrigeration possible. Experiments will, however, now 

 be continued at Coonoor where the climate is favour- 

 able, being fairly equable. Fish glue, for which several 

 enquiries were addressed by business firms to the Direc- 

 tor, is never likely to be a serious product since almost 

 every part of every fish is used for food ; materials like 

 cat-fish heads which would yield glue are particularly 

 sought as food, and fish skins are not stripped from fish 

 before sale, but are eaten with the fish. Certain products 

 may however be yet availed of. But here again, the 

 cHmate, and especially the moist heat of the coast, is 

 aoainst the manufacture of hard o-lue which will not set 

 on the drying- nets at our normal temperatures. 



The oil and guano (fish scrap, obtained after boiling 

 and pressing the fish for oil) continued to be of first-class 

 quality, and there is now little difference between skim- 

 med and pressed oil, while the guano on one occasion 

 gave above 9 per cent of nitrogen. 



8. Cannery. — This did better than in the previous 

 year and 55,500 tins were packed as against slightly 

 above half that number in the previous year ; moreover 

 several thousand were of double or more than double 

 the ordinary size. 



