222 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



attaching it safely to the bank where it will have as good an exposure 

 to the sun as possible 5 carp will not spawn in the shade. By the 5th 

 of May in this latitude (32°) the carp will begin to spawn. They may 

 be seen in great numbers, fluttering near the banks in shallow water, 

 and they will be sure to find the moss and to deposit innumerable eggs 

 upon it ; the eggs will adhere to the moss from three to four days and 

 then drop off. To protect the eggs and the young from the ravages of 

 other fishes 1 constructed boxes 10 feet long and 5 wide. The gunnels 

 or side pieces are 1 by 12 with a good water-tight bottom. The ends of 

 these boxes are made of wire cloth suf6ciently fine to prevent the escape 

 of the smallest carp and to admit a constant flow of fresh water. The 

 bottoms are covered an inch deep with pure sand. When placed in the 

 water they sink until the water stands from G to 8 inches deep in them. 

 As soon as I discover the eggs on the moss I gather up the moss and 

 lay it in these boxes, putting weight enough on to keep it barely under 

 the water. In eight or ten days, according to the temperature of the 

 water, the young will be seen. It is best to anchor these boxes in the 

 middle of the ijond, where they will be subjected to the action of the 

 wind and waves and have as fair an exposure to sun as possible. After 

 the young are two or three weeks old they should be protected from 

 the midday sun. It is wonderful how many can be hatched in a box of 

 the size given. As the growth increases they should be divided and 

 kept until they are large enough to take care of themselves, which will 

 be in two or three months, if there are game fish in the pond. I com- 

 mence feeding when a month old by sprinkling corn-meal iu the boxes, 

 but not enough to leave a residuum. 



Carp do not spawn in this climate until they are two years old, and 

 at three they spawn enormously. They begin by the 5th of May and 

 run from three to five days only. I had only one that was as late as 

 the 25th this year. I did not observe it spawning but one day, though 

 I watched it closely day and night. I placed all the spawn of this one 

 in a box by themselves; yesterday I bailed the water out of this box, 

 straining through a wire sieve ; it is simply wonderful how many young 

 there are — too many to count. I am now selling the young, having 

 sold to one man 1,000 at $15 per hundred, and have demand for every 

 one that I can hatch. 



I have given the cultivation of the carp the closest attention, en- 

 deavoring to find out the most simple way to hatch and protect them, 

 and one that any farmer could understand and adopt without requiring 

 much time or attention. I have been eminently successful, and there 

 is no reason why others should not be. My oldest carp are now three 

 and a half years old and I iexpect to exhibit one at the fair iu Kew Or- 

 leans that will weigh thirty pounds. 



CoRSiCANA, Tex., Jnly 1, 1884. 



