584 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [118] 



obtain the small quantity of nutritive luattor wliicli tbey possess. x\I- 

 though it may, for various reasons, be found difficult to adopt a sys- 

 tematic raetbod of feeding, a cbance to supply the carp with food at no 

 extra expense shouhl never be allowed to ])ass by. 



In many parts of our country the ponds are on all sides surrounded 

 by pasture-lands, where the cattle drop their excrements, which soon 

 dry in the sun and become the habitation of worms, maggots, «S:c. With- 

 out incurring any special expense these excrements nmy be gathered by 

 the i)ersou in charge of the ponds, and either be kept till the months 

 of September and October or be thrown into the ponds at once. This 

 need not even be done every day, as one cart-load of these execrements 

 per hectare, thrown into the ])ond once a week, will be accomi^auied 

 by beneficial results. Owing to the maggots contained in the excre- 

 ments they will prove an excellent article of food. 



If there are distilleries near, good results nia^' be obtained by throw- 

 ing into the pond, every week, a quantity of fresh potato refuse from 

 the distillery. Thus, we have been informed that by throwing 00 liters 

 of such refuse into a pond having an aren of 500 scjuare meters every 

 week from April 10th to November 9th, 104 carp, weighing originally 

 one-half to 1 pound ai)iece, reached a weight of 2-| to 3^ pounds.* 



If a cow or ox dies and cannot be used as human food, it may be made 

 to do good service either by feeding it direct to the fish or b\' using it for 

 generating maggots. This may be done in the following manner: (1) By 

 simply placing large pieces of meat on poles rammed in the bottom of 

 the pond. Without any further aid maggots will form in the meat and 

 fall into the water; or, as birds of prey and other animals will often 

 get the lion's share, it is better still (2) to use wooden boxes which have 

 a lid and a i)erforated bottom, and rest on four slanting poles, or legs, 

 so that they can be placed in the water, tlie legs touching the bottom. 

 A carcass or a piece of meat is placed in this box, the flies crawl into 

 it and deposit their eggs, and the maggots fall into the waterf; (3) it 

 will also answer the purpose simply to throw a carcass, or i)ieces of one, 

 into the pond, so that the water covers it; and maggots and water in- 

 sects Avill soon be generated in large numbers; (4) if it is intended to 

 carry on the generation of maggots on a large scale, pits Qi) to 70 ceii- 

 timeters deep and broad, and of any desired length, are dug in some 

 snnny jdace near the ponds, which, to add to their security, may be 

 paved and their sides lined with bricks or stones. At the bottom of 

 these pits is placed a layer of rye straw cut fine, to the height of 15 to 

 20 centimeters, on the top of this a layer, 5 to 8 centimeters thick, of 

 fresh dry horse dung, containing a good deal of straw; these two 

 layers are covered with a layer of sifted earth, 15 meters thick, on 

 which to the height of about 9 centimeters are thrown the blood of 

 horses, oxen, or other animals, entrails, meat, decayed roots and vegc- 



* Deutsche Fischerci-Zeittuni, 1878, No. 8. 



t J. Wirth, ZeitschriJ't dcs Dentscheii FiscJicrei-Vereins, 1871, VII, 48. 



i 



