676 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



prisonment," commences in the hatcMng-ponds, varying in size from 

 one to ten acres, in wbicli as many as 20 pair of well- developed milters 

 and spawners are placed in spring, there to spawn under the genial rays 

 of the sun. It is characteristic of the slow nature of the carp not to do 

 this spawning business at once like other fish, and so far all attempts 

 at artificial impregnation have failed. But if the water during the 

 spawning season has been kept at an even height, and the frogs do not 

 devour too many eggs, young carps are produced in great numbers, as 

 they are very prolific, one pair alone iDroducing several hundred thou- 

 sand eggs, from which, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, 

 about 25,000 young fish may be counted on. During their earliest 

 infancy these fish live on infusoria, as their little mouths will not allow 

 any other food to pass. The summer goes by, the new year comes in, 

 and in spring the little one-year-old carps — which at this age are very 

 suitable for the parlor aquarium — are placed in larger ponds (generally 

 covering an area of 30 acres each) at the rate of ,300 to GOO fish per acre. 

 -Mter they have stayed in these ponds a year, the fish (now two years 

 old) are placed in still larger ponds (generally covering an area of 400 

 acres each) at the rate of 180 to 360 per acre. After another year has 

 passed, the fish (now three years old) are placed in the large ponds 

 (generally aboi^t 900 acres each), in which they stay another year, and 

 reach an average weight of 2} to 3} pounds, and thus attain their 

 maturity. 



Loneliness i)roduees melancholy, and in order that the carp may not 

 load a too idyllic sort of dream-life after lea\iug those ponds where 

 they spent their first two summers, and which are absolutely free from 

 fish of prey, quite a large number of other considerably smaller fish, 

 such as tench, crucians, pike, and even perch — which have been 

 S])ecially raised for this purpose in separate ponds — are during the third 

 year placed in the same ponds with them. These fish give the cari) 

 some idea of life in the great world, and by their constant attacks, 

 which, however, are generally harndess, bring a little life into the quiet 

 society of philosophers, and, to some extent, act the part of shepherd 

 dogs. But there are other enemies of the carp which tend to make the 

 carp livelier, remindnig us of those persons in "Gulliver's Travels" who 

 liad constantly to use rattles to rouse the Lilliputians from their day- 

 dreams; and these are otters, herons, wild ducks and geese, fish-hawks, 

 and human beings — poachers, who rob the ponds during the night. 



Thus the day of harvest comes at last. Three weeks beforehand they 

 begin to let the water flow off, and the carps gradually gather in the 

 <leep ruts or holes of the bottom. On the morning of the great fishing- 

 (Iny they are driven into a basin about the size of an acre and about 

 oiie meter deep. This is done by the fishermen, who, armed with purse- 

 i^ets, wade, often with half their bodies in the muddy water, and, shout- 

 ing and yelling, drive the fish before them. Slowly the great mass of 

 ii.-h comes rolling on, making the water of a dark, muddy color, and 



