58 



I 



Letter — from Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i.e., I.C.S., Officer 



on Special Duty, Fisheries Investigation. 

 Dated — ^Madras, the 28th February 1907. 



In paragraphs 196 to 212 of my report on Japanese 

 fisheries I have suggested certain fresh-water piscicul- 

 tural methods by carp hatcheries, etc. 



2. As mentioned in my No. 88 {c) of this date on 

 the future estabHshment of experimental stations, I do 

 not propose the immediate starting of large hatcheries ; 

 I have not the experts to put in charge, nor would it be 

 well to embark without more experimental and therefore 

 precise knowledge, on larger work. 



3. But my assistant Mr. V. V. Ramanan is, as I have 

 elsewhere several times said, already an experimenter 

 and observer in Natural History, and I propose during 

 this year not only that he shall thoroughly examine the 

 proposed sites of hatcheries, viz., near Nellore and 

 Kurnool, and the waters to be stocked, but shall begin 

 experiments in Madras in small culture ponds where he 

 will breed various classes of carp, observe their habits 

 as regards spawning, their food, rates of growth, and in 

 fact the whole life-history of various sorts of fish. At 

 present we have no exact knowledge — essential for 

 hatchery work— of important matters of reproduction 

 such as the time of year, whether only once in a year or 

 repeatedly, the place or conditions of spawning, or even 

 the character of the eggs (floating, demersal, adhesive, 

 etc.) ; of the best and at the same time the cheapest 

 food available, and of the possibility of good profit by 

 the deliberate breeding and feeding of fish in stock 

 ponds ; of the fish which will give the best market profit, 

 food, weight, etc., being considered. These and many 

 other points I propose to examine by observation in 

 experimental ponds. 



4. For carrying on these experiments on the larger 

 and more continuous scale I shall of course require 

 trained men, and it is for this reason that I have pro- 

 posed the training of a student at the Fishery Institute, 

 Japan, in the cultural branch. I also want men as 

 itinerant instructors who will go about the country 

 suggesting and assisting the utilization of small village 

 waters (paragraphs 202, 206 — 209, 225 — 227) ; these will 



