730 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [72] 



Dii'FicuLTiES. — The most serious difficulty has been the depredations by snakes 

 and lish-hawks. I killed a snake this spriuj;' with 3 fish 14 inches long in it. 



Miscellaneous. — Mr. S. T. Earle has 20 scale earp that he kept in a large covered 

 spring and that have not grown 1 inch in 3 years. 



329. Statement of John McFadden, Sudlersville, Queen Anne Co., Md., July 24, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — I received 40 carp in December, 1880, and 35 in 

 1881. I put them into a pond 20 feet square a4id 2 feet deep, with a muddy bottom. A 

 very good stream of spring water flows through it regularly. Last year a freshet 

 carried away all the old carp, but thousands of young ones are left, which I intend to 

 move into a large, natural pond, about 100 yards long by 20 wide, where J cannot 

 lose them by freshets, as it has no inlet, and will be fed only by si)iings. 



Plants.— It contains water-lilies and all grasses that grow in low lauds. 



Enemies. — There are catfish, frogs, and turtles in it. 



Food. — I feed the carp about once a week with a gallon or more at a time of 

 ship-feed or middlings. I find it the best food I can give them. 



Growth and reproduction. — I presume that 10,000 young were produced by my 

 original fish. They are from 1 inch to 10 inches long. 



330, Statement of W. II. Neal, Sudlersville, Queen Anne Co., Md., July 21, 1883. 



Disposition of carp ]{eceived. — I received about 40 carp in December, 1880, 

 which I lost by a break in my dam. I received about 40 more in the autumn or 

 winter of 1881, and placed them in a pond of -^ of an acre, with a muddy bottom and 

 a depth of from I to 4 feet. I cut a ditch around the pond to prevent ovcrllow, and .'ir- 

 ranged a set of gates to hold water when needed; Imt the pond-s are su[)plicd largely 

 by rain-water, and the temperature is moderately warm. 



Enemies. — The pond contains catfish, eels, sun-fish, a few small pike, and some ter- 

 rapins, known as red-bellies. 



Food. — I am sure I can grow carp in this pond without regularly feeding them, and 

 I think without ever feeding them at all. I have thus far fed them irregularly on 

 scalded meal, scalded corn, corn and bran and meal uncooked, corn-bread, wheat-bread, 

 anil a little wheat-bread with soda in it. 



Growth. — I have probably 1 or 2 dozen of the lot left, but no young. They are 

 from 10 to 1.5 inches long. I am fully satisfied with my success thus far. 



Difficulties. — I name the soda especially, l)ecause soon after giving them that 

 kind of bread, but nothing else unusual, my carp, together with the catlish. eels, and 

 sun-fish, sickened, and many of Ihem died. My i)ond was a miniature Dead Sea for 

 about a wct^k. Tlu^- rains came, however, renewinic the water, and restored the ap- 

 pearance of life. The few fish I have left are healthy and apparently all right. Is 

 soda a fish poison? My greatest difficulty was to make the dams secure, so as to hold 

 the needed (quantity of water and discharge the surplus without losing the fish. 



331. Statement of F. I. Wiley, Charlotte nail, St. Mary's Co., Md., Sei)t. 11, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — I received 1.50 carp 2 years ago. The pond in 

 which they have been kept is f of a mile long, 300 yards wide, and from 3 to 20 feet 

 deep. Its Ijottom is composed half of mud and half of gravel and sand. Enough 

 water flows tJirough it to turn a mill ; it is fed by springs, and is never very warm, 

 about 50°. 



Plants. — Yellow lilies, reeds, and wild rice grow in the pond, and I liave never 

 given the carp any other food. 



Enemies. — It is infested with catfish, sun-fish, yellow perch, frogs, and snakes. 



Growth. — I have no means of telling how many carp there now are, as the water 

 is too deep. I have only caught a few ; these weighed from 1 to 1^ pounds. I cannot 

 find any bait which they are very fond of. 



Reproduction. — I do not know how many young they have produced. I have 

 caught a few, say 6 or 7, about 4 inches long. 



332. Statement of Levin L. Waters, Princess Anne, Somerset Co., Md., July 21, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — In November, 1881, I received about 40 scale 

 carp, which I turned loose in the headwaters of the Manokin River, and have never 

 seen nor heard of them since. 



333. Statement of Thomas Hugldctt, Easton,- Talbot Co., Md., Jan., 1882. 



Growth and reproduction. — In December, 1880, I deposited some leather carp in 

 my pond near Easton. In February, 1881, this pond broke during a freshet, and some 

 of the carp escaped to Miles River. In the following September some of them were 



