40* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



only in a few lakes in tlie provinces of Pomerania, Brandenburg, and 

 Holstein, and for the most part in Madne Lake. 



Tlie most successful cultivator of this species is Mr. E. Eckardt, the 

 projmetor of a flourishing fish-hatching establishment at Liibbinchen, 

 near Guben, in Silesia. This gentleman, desirous of making some re- 

 turn in behalf of his compatriots for the good "will of the United States 

 Fish Commission, in sui^plying eggs of useful food fishes to Ger- 

 many, offered to present one thousand embryonized eggs of this species, 

 if he could be advised of the general result of the experiment. This 

 being promised him, a package, said to contain a thousand, was received 

 through the kind offices of the Xorth German Lloyds, in New York, and 

 sent by arrangement to the fish commissioners of Michigan, who prom- ' 

 ised, after hatching them out, to place the young in some isolated lake 

 in that State, where their future could be followed. Of the number re- 

 ceived, 409 were hatched out, and on the 14th of April, were placed in 

 Lake Gardner, a small, deep lake in Otsego County, Michigan. There 

 were believed to be no other whitefish, nor any predaceous fish of any 

 kind in the lake. It is to be hoped that should this lake be found to 

 contain any whitefish, the fact will be duly reported to the United States 

 Fish Commission. This transmission of eggs was accompanied by 

 special instructions as to treatment. Thus they were not to be trans- 

 ferred suddenly to new water nor to water of specially different temper- 

 ature ; but the box must be placed unoi^ened in the water and allowed 

 to remain in that condition for at least an hour. As the skin of the 

 egg is very delicate, of course careful handling is required. In Ger- 

 many the eggs hatch out from the end of February to the middle of 

 March, this dej^ending on the temperature. 



Mr. Eckardt advised that the young fish be placed in the ditches or 

 ponds within one or two days of hatching. In May or June, in Ger- 

 many, the young fish are said to make their appearance on the shores 

 of the lake. 



The Carp (Cyjmmis carpio). 



The introduction of the best varieties of carp, particularly those reared 

 in Germany, has, as is well known, been for many years a favorite object 

 with the United States Fish Commission, this fish possessing many spe- 

 cial qualities fitting it for great usefulness in certain portions of the 

 United States. The carp, from having been cultivated for hundreds, 

 and, perhaps, thousands of years as a domesticated fish, and being of 

 all known fish the most readily i)roi)agated and reared, takes rank in this 

 respect with poultry and domestic animals generally. It is maintained 

 by German writers that a given area of carp ponds will furnish a vastly 

 greater amount of animal food than can be obtained on tbe same ground 

 from the cultivation of crops fed to domestic animals; this, too, at 

 much less labor and expense. In some parts of Europe vast areas 

 are occupied in the culture of carp. Prince Schwartzenburg of Austria 

 having, it is said, no less than 20,000 acres occupied in this culture. 



