No. 5 (I917) CARP-GROWING IN GERMANY I57 



climates, however, carp naturally grow large and fast with the 

 abundant food found in warm waters. 



Now artificial feeding can only be resorted to if the prices of 

 the food and of the resulting fish permit, and since it requires 5 to 

 7 lb. of artificial food, plus any natural food in the water, for every 

 pound of live carp, the food must be exceedingly cheap. Still it is 

 found possible to use some foods and the experiences of Wittingau 

 in Bohemia are interesting. This royal establishment has nearly 

 200 ponds covering about 25,000 acres, worked mainly under the 

 Dubisch system plus that of artificial feeding. It is here found 

 that carp which, under the ordinary system, weigh I lb. at the end 

 of the second summer, weigh 2^ lb. when artificial feeding is 

 added. The food supplied is at the rate of about 6 lb. per pound 

 of carp fished, nearly 60 per cent being lupin seed and 35 per cent 

 meat powder, chiefly waste from Liebig factories. In Bavaria I 

 found that the seed of the yellow lupin was frequently given ; it is 

 usually steeped in water for a day or two and then used. Maize 

 cake boiled, steeped or raw — in which last case it is roughly 

 pounded up — was also given. In Geeste I found an excellent pre- 

 paration of sea fish (undersized haddock, etc., which it is illegal to 

 place as such in the market) which are ground up, bone and all, 

 into a fine meal and desiccated ; this was supplied at just over I 

 penny per pound, but being too costly is seldom used except for 

 trout. Potatoes, edible oil cakes of various sorts such as groundnut, 

 bran and rice poundings (tavidu), pounded fish scrap, i.e., the flesh 

 of herring, etc., after expression of the oil, vegetables unfit for table 

 use, and so forth, are largely used ; as has been already mentioned, 

 the drainage of cattle stalls and manure heaps and the miscellane- 

 ous scraps of farms and households are all acceptable to carp, as 

 well as the worms, insects, small molluscs and Crustacea found in 

 the fields and in the ponds and ditches. 



One is led to enquire whether there is scope for carp growing 

 operations in the Madras Presidency similar to those conducted in 

 Germany. Is there water .? Will carp grow successfully in these 

 waters? What methods are available? Will people take the 

 trouble ? Well, there is plenty of water, even neglecting the rivers, 

 in the canals, tanks, village ponds, irrigation wells, and paddy 

 fields. True that most of it is non-permanent and dries up in the 

 hot weather ; but even this is not a bar to the production of a great 

 crop of food ; the rains last only six or seven months, from June to 

 December, but this suffices to grow cereal crops or even two of 



