ON ARTIFICIAL REFRIGERATION. 967 



There is a manifest difficulty in the way of resorting to any but the 

 least costly process of transporting the fresh fish from the boat where it 

 must be iced to the consumers. Any plan of preservation available for 

 greater delays in transit, such as the supply of European markets 

 might, in time, supersede the more precarious process hitherto in use. 



It might be desirable to have cold chambers on the fishing-schooners, 

 so that the ice should not melt in the boxes; and in time suitable refrig- 

 erators may be introduced amongst the fishermen. The promjit and prac- 

 tical remedy, however, lies in disturbing as little as possible the course 

 of the trade ; and so far as my experiments with fish have extended I 

 have not found any preservative so good as ice ; its only disadvantage 

 is the melting, and to prolong its effects with a minimum deterioration 

 of the fish is simply to keep the whole at a temperature which will fail 

 to freeze the fish but will preserve the ice and insure dryness. The more 

 complete the desiccation, so long as ice is around the fish, the more cer- 

 tain the result. 



It is not improbable that this combination of using ice and artificial 

 refrigeration may settle the problem of shipping fish to the English mar- 

 kets, and it is my intention to further by all means in my power the estab- 

 lishment of cold storage in England for the reception of all kinds of 

 American i)roduce, including fish. The obstacles I have met so far in 

 this have resulted from the difficulties in inducing the agents in England 

 to anticipate any preparations mthout cooperation by American exi)ort- 

 ers, and in America such men as Mr. Eastman in the beef business have 

 little confidence in investing capital except under their own eyes, but 

 when they see, there appears to be no limit to their enterprise. 



With the lead taken in fish-culture in America, it is to be hoped this 

 matter of making provision at the European centres of consumption for 

 the reception and preservation of fish may meet with fewer obstacles than 

 I have encountered in ten years with all the suggestions, admitted to be 

 sound, in relation to the meat-trade. 



Y.— DRY COLD WITHOUT ICE. 



This plan so successful with the meat can be made to succeed vnth fish, 

 but I hesitate to develop a complete plan on the slender knowledge I 

 have of the possibilities in the fish-trade. 



One thing is certain, viz, that drying without salt or smoke, so as to 

 keep a split fish in the most perfect condition for some weeks, to be 

 restored by a few hours' immersion in pure cold water, is practicable. 

 Water can be abstracted and replaced from and into the most delicate 

 animal tissues without the shghtest deterioration or the development of 

 adventitious flavor. This is undoubtedly the process which will super- 

 sede canning to a large extent on the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers, 

 and it were weU if, with the progress of fish-culture, these methods were 

 made the subject of experiment and demonstration, so as to encourage 

 capitalists to ship fish as nearly like grain in bulk, without incurring 



