FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. l8l 



that the science of fish culture has come to cultivating black bass artificially. This 

 method of cultivating black bass has been practiced for a number of years by the 

 United States Fish Commission and originated with Maj. Isaac Arnold, United 

 States Army, about 1882 or 1883. Black bass are hardy, long suffering fish. As a 

 boy I made a trade for some live black bass and took them in a flour sack on my 

 back to my home and put them in a tub of water. They revived and swam about the 

 tub, each one coated from nose to end of tail with flour, as white as chalk. Finally I 

 had a glimmering of sense and decided not to put them in my trout pond, and the 

 next day carried them back and made another trade and they lived in the other boy's 

 spring for a long time after. The United States Fish Commission put some black 

 bass in one of the ponds at the carp station in Washington until they could be 

 distributed. Later it was desired to use the pond for young shad and the water was 

 drawn out and the pond left dry until the following spring. Winter intervening the 

 pond was filled from seepage, shad fry were turned into the pond and then it was 

 discovered that larger fish of some kind were feeding on the young shad. Investi- 

 gation proved that there were black bass in the pond, and their appearance there 

 could be accounted for only by the fact that the bass had burrowed in the bottom of 

 the pond as the water was drawn off and remained all winter, only to reappear when 

 the pond was refilled. This instance will illustrate the difficulty of getting black 

 bass out of a pond or lake once they are introduced. During the early days of 

 artificial fish propagation and planting mistakes were made that will haunt the fish 

 culturist for years to come. The intentions were doubtless always good, but subse- 

 quent events proved them to be errors of judgment in the light of greater experience. 



The error of planting black bass in waters wholly unfitted for them cannot be 

 charged entirely to fish culturists or those in authority, but following mistakes of this 

 character another great mistake was made in planting the German carp as food for 

 black bass. Waters in which trout at one time abounded were planted with bass and 

 then with carp. 



During the past summer 1 visited one stream which was once as fine a trout 

 brook as can be found in the State. Bass were put in the stream and then 

 carp were planted. To-day the carp infest it like a drove of water hogs. The trout 

 of course are gone, except an occasional one in the very head waters, the black bass 

 are an unimportant factor in the food supply of the stream, but the carp, great big 

 fellows up to thirty pounds in weight, wallow in the pools and back waters, stirring 

 up the mud and defiling the stream with their presence where nature never intended 

 them to be. They cannot be netted, for it is contrary to law to do this ; and, until 

 the law is changed to permit a war upon them in waters where they have no business 

 to be, thev must remain to the exclusion of better fish. This is another illustration of 



