THE CARP AND ITS CULTURE. 869 



ronne, Loire, then the Bavarian and Swiss lakes, the lake of Constance, 

 &c. ; even salt water seems to agree with it very well. I have taken it in 

 the Black Sea, where its weight often amounts to from 15 to 20 pounds. 

 It is also found in the Caspian Sea in great numbers, and is known 

 there by the name of Sassan. 



It is an advantage that the carp is able to live in water where 

 other fishes could not possibly exist ; for instance, in the pools of bog- 

 meadows or sloughs. However, it is not by any means to be inferred 

 from this that the best locality for carp-ponds of a superior kind could 

 be in such situations. The presence of too much humic acid is unfa- 

 vorable to the well-being of the carp, as we shall see presently in the 

 chapter upon the establishing of fish-ponds. 



The carp lives upon vegetable food as well as upon worms and larvse 

 of aquatic insects, which it turns up from the raud with the head; it is 

 very easily satisfied, and will not refuse the offal of the kitchen, slaugh- 

 terhouses, and breweries, or even the excrement of cattle and pigs. I 

 propose to enter further upon the subject of feeding it when I speak of 

 its culture in ponds. 



In the moderate zone, that is to say in Central Europe, the carp will, 

 at the beginning of the cold season, seek deeper water to pass that period 

 in a kind of sleep. This will sometimes occur as early as the beginning 

 of November, if the winter should set in early ; and it is to be remarked 

 that they will retire at an earlier period in ponds than in rivers. They do 

 so always in groups of from 50 to 100 and more. They make a cavity 

 in tbe muddy ground, called a " kettle ;" in this they pass the time until 

 spring, huddled together in concentric circles with their heads together, 

 the posterior part of the body raised and held immoveably, scarcely lift- 

 ing the gills for the process of breathing, and without taking a particle 

 of food. They do not take any food from the beginning of October, 

 and continue to abstain from it, in some countries, until theend of March, 

 and in colder districts even somewhat later. It will not answer, however, 

 to depend on this habit when transjiortiug them for propagation in the 

 spring or winter time, more especially young carp one or two years old. 

 The fish will arrive in a worn and hungry condition, and must be kept 

 in a tank constructed on purpose for observation, where it has no chance 

 to bury itself in the mud ; here it will sometimes take a little food. At 

 such times I generally make use of boiled barley, or rye flour converted 

 into a kind of tough paste by the addition of hot water, and with this I 

 mix a little loam and rye bread ; but I continue the feeding only until I can 

 judge from the looks of the fish that they have recovered. This method 

 I followed with the carp which I imported from Europe for the purpose 

 of breeding in the winter of 1876- '77. It is a most striking fact that 

 the carp, though it does not take any food during this winter-sleep in 

 its natural retreat, does not diminish in weight, while, in the so-called 

 " winter-chambers," it does so to a remarkable degree. These " winter- 

 chambers'- are large tanks 1,000 to 5,000 square feet in size or less; they 



