214 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



and catfish which I get at my country home much superior to those 

 which I purchase in our city market, I have been accustomed to attrib- 

 ute this difference to something peculiar to the water of our antiseptic 

 peat bottoms; bat now I conclude that it is due rather to the fact that 

 those in the country are killed as soon as caught, while those of our 

 market are permitted to die a lingering death. In preparing poultry 

 for tbe table, it would be quite as rational to hold the chicken's head 

 under water till it ceased to breathe as to permit a fish to struggle in 

 the air till dead. And as carp nave great vitality this struggle will be 

 kept up for a long time. The killing can readily be done by thrusting 

 the long blade of a pocket knife under the edge of the gill-cover down 

 through the fish, so as to sever the main artery. It will then bleed 

 freely and die speedily, and leave no unsightly wound. 



(2) Never take fish directly to market from a pond in which the bot- 

 tom is strewed with decaying leaves. A market pond should be so situ- 

 ated that the leaves of deciduous trees will not blow into it, since they 

 uniformly impart an unpleasant flavor to fish feeding on or among them. 

 Carp have already suffered in reputation because of a neglect of this 

 precaution. A part, at least, of the very few wh.o have pronounced 

 them an inferior fish have eaten them directly from ponds the bottoms 

 of which were covered with leaves in a state of decomposition. If your 

 market pond is so situated that leaves cannot be kept out it will pay 

 to have large tanks constructed in which to keep them a couple of 

 weeks before offering them for sale, or, better still, have live-boats built, 

 with wire bottoms, and confine them in these, anchored in running 

 water, a week or two before you wish to market them. 



(3) Do not market your fish in summer. For the seven mouths be- 

 ginning with October they are in season in the latitude of the Middle 

 States. During the months of May, June, and July they are engaged 

 in spawning, and are not fit to be eaten, and, besides, are not in proper 

 condition for the table till some time after the spawning season is over. 

 For home use a supply of those two years old may be kept in a small 

 pond; and if this is supplied with spring water they will be found a 

 fine table fish during any of the summer months; but the disposition 

 of the general crop should be confined to the fall, winter, and early 

 spring months. 



Carp start oft .with a tine reputation as an excellent table fish. Not 

 in Europe alone are they highly esteemed, but of the two hundred and 

 forty persons in this country who gave their estimate to the U. S. Fish 

 Commission of their qualities as a table fish, nearly all spoke of them in 

 the highest terms. AVith care on the part of the culturists this reputation 

 can be maintained and good prices secured. 



Ordinary growth of carp. — Some very remarkable instances of the 

 growth of food car] >ha ve been reported. Whereafew fish have been placed 

 in a pond warmly located, well stocked with aquatic plants, and where 

 water insects abound as they usually do in such localities, their growth 



