1022 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [14] 



rays of the 8un, wliicli quickly heats them and produces putrefaction. 

 During the followiug night already numberless beetles and other in- 

 sects will creep into the steaming stacks and deposit their eggs. After 

 three days the stacks are fairly alive with insects and their larvae, and 

 the stacks are then thrown, just as they are, into the water near the 

 banks. They must, however, be entirely covered with water to the 

 height of 20 to 30 centimeters. The exhalation from this decaying 

 vegetable matter acts like a bait upon the carp. They eagerly seek it, 

 devouring the insects contained in it, and also particles of the decaying 

 matter. The places where the grass has been thrown into the water 

 become gathering places for many other small animals, which breed 

 there, and thus supply ample food for the carp. These places should 

 be kept up. As grass can generally be had near the banks of ponds, 

 this food is cheap and can be obtained with very little trouble. 



Placing branches of pine, spruce, or juniper (branches of deciduous 

 trees are injurious on account of the tannin contained in the leaves) 

 in the water of ponds, especially those having but little vegetation, will 

 also serve to increase the number of insects, as they become the breed- 

 ing aud hiding places of many of them. By lifting these branches from 

 time to time out of the water, aud shaking them, the insects contained 

 in them are scattered in all directions and become an easy prey to the 

 fish. 



The feeding of carp will be all the more profitable, the more extensive 

 the scale on which it is carried on, and the more the food agrees with 

 the scientific principles of feeding animals. 



If one restricts one's self to use substances for food in the manner 

 indicated, which otherwise would not be of much use, which cannot be 

 obtained regularly in sufficient quantities, much nutritive matter will — 

 even if the results of this method of feeding are favorable — pass from 

 the body of the fish without aflbrding any use. Such irregular feeding 

 can only be recommended in jwnds containing larger fish ; whilst in 

 ponds where fish are raised, it would disturb the whole system of cul- 

 tivation, and therefore prove injurious. 



In order to reach the greatest possible results with the smallest 

 passible quantity of food and at the least expense, or, at least, to 

 approximately reach certain definite results of production, it is indis- 

 pensable that the carp, like domestic land animals, should be supplied 

 with a suitable quantity of food containing nutritive substances in 

 proper proportion. As, so far, no other standard of food has been 

 given but mine, as this has not been seriously attacked by any one, and, 

 as in a general way it has been tested by my own experience, I see no 

 reason why I should not conscientiously recommend it as a reliable 

 guide in feeding carp. 



Wherever it is the intention to reach certain definite results, espe- 

 cially when the feeding is to take place in feeding-ponds, the feeding 

 process, if carried on in the wrong place, or in an improper manner, will 



