240 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



culture considered that the Government supplies needful appliances 

 for the occupation, reimbursing itself by an impost on the first harvest. 



Stakes planted a short distance from the shore at right angles and 

 under shelter of projecting points, afford support to netting gear, which 

 are placed to receive the newly-hatched carp as they descend the stream. 

 The fry, about -^ iucn i u length, are removed to jars placed on the 

 bank, and fed on a minute quantity of the yelks of boiled eggs mixed 

 with bran; later, on aquatic grass (Hydropyrum latifolium). The jars 

 are stored in junks, and when well laden the finny freight is conveyed 

 up the affluents and lakes of the Yangtse, supplying agriculturists and 

 fish-dealers, and thereby contributing largely to the food supply of the 

 Great Valley. Farmers stock their ponds, fish-dealers their inclosures 

 in lakes and rivers, and humbler husbandmen purchase a few to inclose 

 in cages which are fastened to water-banks. 



When first taken the minnows are fed oh aquatic grass. Hydropyrum 

 latifolium is given to the young of all fish. Wheat and rice bran are 

 given at almost every state of their growth, but often when they have 

 matured they are left to provide for themselves. Some fatten on grass, 

 and are called •' grass carp ;" some on snails, "snail carp." It is recom- 

 mended to place the animals when young in a tank or very small pool, 

 and afterwards temporarily in a larger place, having grassy banks. 



When they are a foot in length they should be transferred to large 

 fish-ponds. In autumn all that are found not to have grown are 

 to be removed and sent to market as hopelessly stunted (the largest 

 carp are 7 or 8 feet in length). Domesticated fish are not to be left in 

 shallow ponds in winter, lest they perish from cold. Willow trees 

 should not overshadow a pond, as their flowers are poisonous to fish. 



Nothing is said by the Chinese to indicate that they resort to manual 

 operation in artificial fecundation — pressing out spawn and milt. 



In concluding a subject that is far from having beeu exhaustively 

 treated, it may be worth while to add that one of the Cyprinidcv, a tench, 

 was formerly utilized in the hills of Canton for reclaiming and fertilizing 

 wild land. A piece of jungle was terraced and leveled, water let in 

 from above, or by water-wheels from below, and the place stocked with 

 the fish, which, in a year or two, grubbed the grass and roots and fer- 

 tilized the ground. The fish were then sent to market, and their pasture 

 planted with rice. 



It is almost superfluous to remark in these desultory notes that culti- 

 vated carp arc inferior in flavor to the free-born and wild. 



I have not described minutely the carp-catching appliances used on 

 the Yangtse, as models can be procured if it should be deemed of 

 sufficient importance.* 



Custom house, Wenohow, CkehMang, June, 1885. 



*This paper is reprinted from the Chinese Recorder, June, 1885. 



