94 



while culture ponds produce a largo outturn per acre. In India, as 

 elsewliei-e, carp is one of t'le hardiest, most prolific, and most rapidly- 

 growing fish, and, of one kind or other, form, it is said, 60 per cent, of 

 the freshwater fish of this Presidency. Madras conditions, indeed, are 

 good for carp which, for their most rapid growth, require a high 

 temperature (80° F. is stated) with, of course, plenty of food, and 

 thrive in shallow water — conditions fulfilled in the Japanese paddy 

 fields and in oar own^ and in most of tlie canals, tanks, and ponds of 

 the Presidency. It is to be remembered that carp, especially in the 

 tropics, grow not only rapidly but to a great size ; that they seem to 

 be practically omnivorous, are very cheap to feed when artificial food 

 is necessary, and bear transport better than almost any other fish, it 

 beino- readily possible, in Europe at least, to keep them alive out of 

 water for from 2i to 48 hours if placed in wet moss or straw, or they 

 may be transported in tubs of water with considerable ease. 



197. As regards produce; European figures are not of much use, 

 for in Germany where carp are so largely grown, the winter is long 

 and during tha,t period there is practically no growth, and even loss 

 of weight. Stilij the figures even there are encouraging ; in ordinary 

 ponds or small lakes, the average annual yield of medium quality 

 waters has been stated at about l^ cwt. per acre ; at the recent 

 Milan Exhibition I saw a large map of Bavaria showing groups of 

 ponds aggregating 25,000, of which 90 per cent, were carp ponds with 

 a total area of 30,000 acres or Ij acres apiece ; these are worked by 

 the peasants on whose farms they stand. Now the value of the carp 

 annually produced in these ponds averages 4 million marks or Ks. 30 

 lakhs or Es. 100 per acre, and if carp be worth as much as six pence 

 (half mark) per pound they must produce at least 8 million pounds 

 or 266 lb. per acre. This is in a comparatively cold climate and the 

 fish get no special nutriment, though doubtless ranch refuse food (or 

 as in China the draining of the cattle stands, etc.) finds its way to 

 the ponds. In Japan the figures are far larger ; as already stated the 

 fry develop in their four months' life in the paddy fields to a market- 

 able size of 8 or 9 inclies, and the figures given me of the weights 

 grown in the culture ponds w^ould be almost incredible but for the 

 confirmation of a careful scientist (Professor Mitsukuri) who says 

 deliberately in his pamphlet quoted above that the 225 acres of 

 culture ponds round Tokyo produce annually " 405,000 pounds of the 

 meat of this fish " or 1,800 lb. per acre, and since eel and mullet are 

 usually, perhaps, always, grown, as I myself saw, in the same ponds 

 and at the same time as the carp, the annual yield of fish per acre 

 must be something like double that amount or, say H tons. Tliat 

 this is possible is shown by the yield mentioned by Mr. Moreton 

 Frewen (" Nineteenth Century," September 1899) of 6,000 lb. of fish 

 in a year from several ponds aggregating a quarter acre, at a cost 



