2 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



try, one might think that the easiest way of solving the problem would be 

 to obtain the necessary carp from our piscicultural establishments, com- 

 missioning them to furnish as many young carp as possible, paying 

 perhaps 3 marks (71 cents) per 100. In this way the required number 

 of fish could be procured in a comparatively short time. But at this 

 rate the cost of stocking the Stettiner Haff with carp would be between 

 600,000 and 700,000 marks, not counting the expense of transporting the 

 fish. Although this large sum might pay some interest at a future time, 

 the expense of starting the enterprise would be too great, and the par- 

 ties to profit by this arrangment would be the piscicultural establish- 

 ments and not the people. 



Another way of solving the problem would be to adopt the method 

 followed for a number of years by the eminent pisciculturist, Mr. Eck- 

 ardt of Liibbincken, by which impregnated carp-eggs can be sent a great 

 distance, and by which the German Fishery Association has succeeded 

 in stocking with carp some of our largest German rivers within a com- 

 paratively small number of years. The objection might, however, be 

 raised that it would not be advisable to place the young fry of the carp, 

 immediately after leaving the eggs, in the large basin of the mouths of 

 the Oder, where strong winds often prevail and produce considerable 

 waves. Mr. von dem Borne's plan, therefore, proposes that the parties 

 most interested in the fisheries of the Stettiner Haff, i. e., the local 

 authorities, should procure the required 22,000,000 of carp, not by buy- 

 ing them, but in the simplest manner in the world, by raising them. 



In order to fully understand this plan, we have to give a brief review 

 of artificial carp culture, as it has been developed among us in a most 

 rational manner. Not only during the last few years, but for centuries, 

 the nutritious, delicate, golden-yellow carp has been the favorite of our 

 nation. The carp, the unassuming inhabitant of our numerous marshy 

 ponds, has by its peaceful nature become almost as much of a domestic 

 animal as the hog or the goose. All during the Middle Ages car}) 

 formed the favorite dish during the Lenten season; and to-day more 

 than ever it is, at certain seasons of the year, the favorite food of a large 

 number of our population, and has, in the shape of " carp in beer," become 

 a characteristic national dish of the Germans. The flesh of the carp 

 contains (in proportion) as much nutritious substance as the finest piece 

 of beef, and is peculiarly suited for making a savory dish; it is more- 

 over entirely free from the disagreeable fishy taste found in many other 

 fish. Owing to the very limited development of its brain, the carp pos- 

 sesses but little ambition, and is content to grovel in the mud of our 

 ponds, generally living on small aquatic plants, and only occasionally 

 allowing itself the luxury of a larva or of an insect. Its excellent appe- 

 tite is followed by favorable results sooner than is the case with any 

 other artificially raised flishj and its well-rounded body soon assumes 

 such proportions as to make the pike — that most voracious tisliof-prey — 

 absolutely harmless, for the simple reason that no pike can be found 



