8 CARP. 



increased by tlie experience of age, the following directions, 

 extracted from Daniels' "Rural Sports," may be found useful: — 

 "In May or early in June, ■whicli is the cliief time of their 

 spawning, and when they always resort to the weeds, let a 

 green silk setting net, without leads, and only one float at each 

 extremity, be dropped in the clear water, and drive with the 

 wind to the outside edge of the weeds; then go in a boat 

 through the weeds between the net and the shore; the Carp 

 will fly at the noise to the deep water, and be taken with the 

 net, on their entrance into it, and which from its colour the 

 Carp does not discover in his haste to escape from the boat." 

 We may suppose that a net of very fine twine of the proper 

 tint, although not of silk, will be equally successful. 



The formation of a pond is described by the Hon. Roger 

 North, and is here given because it also conveys some portion 

 of the history of the Carp, as it was then generally understood: 

 — "It is the most valuable of all kinds of fish for stocking ponds, 

 because of its quick growth and great increase. If the feeding 

 and breeding of this fish were more understood and practised, 

 the advantages resulting would be very great; and a fishpond 

 would become as valuable an article as a garden. The sale of 

 Carp makes a considerable part of the revenue of the principal 

 nobility and gentry in Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, 

 Mecklenburg, Bohemia, and Holstein, Particular attention should 

 be paid to the soil, water, and situation of a Carp pond; the 

 best kind are those which are surrounded by the finest pasture 

 or corn-fields, with a rich black mould, and soft springs on the 

 spot, or other running water that is neither too cold or 

 impregnated with acid, calcareous, selenitic, or other feraneous, 

 mineral particles. The water may be softened by exposing it 

 to the air or sun in a reservoir, or by forming an open channel 

 for it some distance from the pond; they should be exposed to 

 the influence of the sun, and sheltered from the eastern and 

 northerly winds. 



"By experience it is found convenient to have three kinds of 

 ponds for Carp, namely, the spawning pond, the nursery, and 

 the main pond; the first pond must be cleared of all other 

 kind of fish, especially those of the rapacious kind, such as the 

 perch, pike, eel, and trout, the water-beetle, and also of newts 

 or lizards. It should be exposed to sun and air, and be supplied 



