784 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [126] 



weighed If, 2\, and 2|f pounds. The. last part of October I caught iu the same way a 

 leather carp which was 18 inces long and weighed 2 pounds. I am satisfied that there 

 are now fish in my pond which will weigh between 3 and 4 pounds, though not over 18 

 months old. Scale carp, being the more bulky fish, outweigh leather carp. 



Repeoduction. — I think the carp spawned to some extent about the middle of last 

 August, though I have seen no young. This, I think, is due to the fact that the pond 

 has a bottom of clay and marl which gives the water a yellowish tint, thereby render- 

 ing it impossible to see small fish unless they be very near the surface. Since seeing 

 my carp, quite a number of people have engaged young fish of me. 



Miscellaneous. — If the same interest which is now manifested among the farmers 

 continues to exist, Ohio, in a few years, will be largely supplied with a cheap and whole- 

 some food, produced from waste lands not heretofore utilized. 



569. Statement of Kemp Gaines, Springfield, Clark Co., Ohio, Dec. 11, 1882. 



Growth and eepeoduction. — When I drained my pond this fall I found that I 

 had lost but 1 of my carp, having 19 old fish living which weigh from 4 to 6 pounds 

 each. About ^ of the young fish hatched last spring and summer are from 6 to 

 7 inches long. By feeding them regularly they will grow much larger in the same 

 length of time. I let one of my neighbors have 48 young fish from 2 to 4 inches in 

 length, on the 20th of July, 1882. He fed them scraps from the table most every day. 

 The 1st of November he drained his pond to stop a leak in the embankment and took 

 the fish out. I was present and measured several myself. None were less than 8 inches, 

 and many of them 12 inches long. 



Sixteen applicants who did not get their ponds ready this fall expect to stock them, 

 next summer. If I still have good luck I think I will be able to fill all applications I 

 may get another year. I have separated my scale and leather carp, thinking they will 

 do better. 



Disposition of young. — During the summer and fall I have furnished young carp 

 for stocking 23 ponds with from 2 to 5 dozen fish to ea«h pond. I have kept over 300 for 

 stocking 2 ponds of my own which I constructed the past summer. [See also above.] 



570. Statement of Kemp Gaines, Springfield, Clark Co., Ohio, Nov. 28, 1883. 



Disposition of caep eeceived. — I received 10 scale carp and 10 leather carp. I 

 have kept them in 2 artificial ponds covering about 1 acre each. The bottom is com- 

 posed of mud and marl and the greatest depths are 5 and 6 feet. About as much water 

 flows through the ponds ;^s could be carried iu a 2i-inch pipe. The temperature is about 

 that of river water after the stream reaches the ponds. 



Plants. — The bottom of each pond is covered Avith a kind of moss that grows iu 

 boggy mill-races, and the edges with different kinds of water-grasses. 



Enemies. — There are no other fish, but there are plenty of frogs and toads in sum- 

 mer. There are also a few muskrats which cause trouble by burrowing in the embank- 

 ments. 



Food. — I feed the carp with green corn. 



Geowth. — I have 16 of the original lot still left; 8 scale and 8 leather. They are aU. 

 about the same size. I weighed several when I drained the ponds this fall and found 

 them to weigh 7j and 8 pounds. 



Repeoduction. — About 4,000 young have been produced. Those 1 year old weigh 

 from IJ to 2|^ pounds, and the young fish are from 2^ to 6 inches long. 



Disposition of young. — I stocked 22. ponds last season with young carp and 24 

 ponds this season, and I still have several applications to fill. I supplied from 3 

 dozen to 10 dozen carp to each of the 24 ponds, and for each of the 18 of the 24 ponds 

 stocked this season I lurnished 5 or 6 yearling fish (3 males and 2 females) that will 

 spawn next spring — over 100 in all. I have thus far supplied ponds in 5 different coun- 

 ties in my own State, and have 300 small and 40 yearling carp remaining for my own 

 use. 



Edible qualities. — During the summer quite a number of my neighbors and friends 

 have eaten carp at my house, and their opinion as to superiority was about equally divided 

 between the leather and scale varieties, which I had fried separately. Either of the 

 kinds is equal to any of our river fish, bass not excepted. 



How to distinguish the sexes of carp. — I find that the key to this problem is 

 in the form of the head of carp. I always examise the heads of carp taken for table 

 use, and in but one instance have I been mistaken as to the sex of the fish thus ex- 

 amined. 



