310 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



they engaged iu the most arduous labor, and the zeal they exhibited in 

 collecting and in doing all that pertained to the work we had to per- 

 form, was certainly commendable, and rendered my duty much pleas- 

 anter than it otherwise would have been. 



I would also improve this opportunity to acknowledge the obligations 

 I am under to Mr. Phillips for suggestions which were valuable and 

 well timed. 



REPORT UPON THE MANAGEMENT OF GERMAN CARP BY A MIS- 



SISSIPPI CORRESPONDENT.* 



By JOHN YOST. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird. ] 



About the middle of December, 1881, I received at Jackson, Miss., in 

 good order, twenty Carp from the United States Fish Commission. Un- 

 fortunately the pond intended for their reception was stocked with other 

 fish, such as Sun-fish, Bream, and Cat-fish. I undertook to drain it, and 

 having procured a dry-goods box about two and one-half feet square by 

 twenty inches deep, I bored a number of small holes to allow the free 

 circulation of the water running from a spring. I put a rock in it to hold 

 it down, also a few shovels of dirt. Then I put the Carp in the box. 

 They remained there eight days. I fed them on crumbs of corn bread. 

 I could see some of them every day and supposed they were doing well, 

 but when I had drained my pond and it was ready for their reception, I 

 was surprised in taking them out to find ten of them under the rock and 

 dead. That left me but ten live fish, and two of them were sick. When 

 I turned them loose in the pond they swam slowly off into deep water, 

 and have not been seen since. I have two ponds side by side, with but 

 a few feet of earth to separate them. Into the one where the box was 

 was sunk I put the common fish. While taking the Carp from the box 

 one of them accidentally fell in with the Cats and Bream. I had not 

 seen any of the Carp until the first day of the present month, when a 

 boy fishing for the common fish caught the Carp that had accidentally 

 got among them. The bait used was a worm. I measured his length, 

 which was 12 inches from the nose to the parting of the tail. When put 

 in the pond about December 2G they were each of them about 3 inches 

 long. In the case of this one it shows a gain of 9 inches in length in 

 six months. Of course, I put him with his own kind. I have not seen 

 them, however, since they were put in, December 26, 1881. I suppose 

 they are doing well from the condition iu which I found that one. For 

 food I give them cabbage leaves, lettuce, tomatoes, peaches, apples, and 

 corn bread. I discover small fish in their pond. I would like to know 

 at what age they breed. 



Brandon, Franklin County, Mississippi, July 30, 1882. 



* Had this gentleman followed instructions to have his pond in entire readiness, 

 and free from all other lish, his success would doubtless have been greater. — Editor. 



