848 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [190] 



VIRGINIA. 



861. Statement of John Neely, Accomack C. H., Accomack Co., Vn., July 25, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — In the spring of 1881 I received 100 carp, which 

 were placed in a small poud, from which they escaped into a mill-pond. I received 50 

 more afterwards. These were put in the mill-pond, the area of which is from 10 to 20 

 acres and full of stumps and debris. The bottom is muddy. 



Plants. — The principal plant is the ordinary pord-lily, which abound in great num- 

 bers. 



Enemies. — The pond contains snapping-turtles, but no fish as far as I have discov- 

 ered. I do not feed the carp. 



Growth. — The carp seem to vary in length, from 18 to 24 inches. I have not caught 

 any, as it is impracticable to use a net. 



862. Statement of John H. Wise, Accomack C. H., Accomack Co., Va., July 30, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — I received in April, 1881, a lot of carp, and 50 sub- 

 sequently. My pond covers from 40 to 50 acres, -with a depth from 4 to 7 feet in the 

 center, getting shallower as it approaches the banks. One portion of the bottom is mud, 

 the other hard sand. The temperature of the water is about that of other mill-ponds in 

 the tide- water region of Virginia. 



Plants. — Water-lilies and other grasses grow on the banks; also great quantities of 

 grass of a soft, fine texture, which in many places reaches the surface of the water. 



Enemies. — Snapping or fresh-water turtles, bull-frogs, sun-fish, or fresh-water perch, 

 and a few small pike inhabit the pond. I have been unable to see any of the carp since 

 putting them in, and do not know whether they keep concealed in the long grass or 

 have been destroyed by the turtles and pike. 



863". Statement of Thos. M. Buck, CharlottesviUe, AlbemarUe Co., Va., July 21, 1882. 



Disposition of carp received. — I placed the carp received last fall in a pond, the 

 bottom of which had been scraped to give the water a greater depth and to free the pond 

 of the weeds that grew therein. 



Plants. — The spring branch to which the fish have access is well supplied with 

 weeds, &c., but the branch, except at the mouth, is quite shallow and may not be sufii- 

 cient to accommodate them at spawning time. 



Food. — I have been careful to have no other fish in the pond. During rains the shat- 

 tered oats from the field above naturally wash into the spring branch, by which the pond 

 is supplied with water, and, as no stock is allowed to run on this field, I thought oats 

 might be sufficient to supply them with food. 



Growth. — The c^rp ha\'e only been seen from time to time as they jump out of the 

 water. From this glance I estimate them to be as large as a man's hand. 



864. Statement of Eichard T. W. Duke, Charlottesville, Albemarle, Co., Va., May, 1883. 



Disposition of carp received. — In the fall of 1880 I received 17 carp about 2 

 inches long, which I placed in my ice-pond. In the spring of 1881 I also received, 

 through a friend in Baltimore, some 30 more. All these were hatched in the year 1880. 

 In the summer of 1881 I built another pond expressly for fish, and in the fall of that 

 year I procured and placed in this pond about 100 carp hatched in the year 1881. In 

 the spring of 1882 I determined to enlarge my ice-pond and convert that into a perma- 

 nent fish-pond. In order to do this it was necessary to draw off the water. It was 

 drawn off in May and the carp were caught and transferred to the other pond. I secured 

 about 35 out of the 47 put in. Xo doubt some few may have escaped and some may have 

 been buried in the mud, but the entire loss was not over 13. These carp were about 12 

 or 13 inches long and would have weighed, I suppose, about a* pound. 



Food. — ^I feed them very often with loaf-bread broken into small pieces. This floats 

 for a time, and the fish rise to the top and take the particles of bread just as readily as 

 a trout takes a fly, but with much more deliberation. They are quite tame, and on any 

 warm evening, upon throwing in crumbs of bread, some 50 or more will come up to the 

 bank and swim around almost on top of the water. 



Growth. — These fish are doing much better than I had expected. Those which were 

 hatched in 1880 are now about 20 inches long and I think would weigh 3 or 4 pounds. 

 Those hatched in 1881 nre about 12 inches long and weigh ,about a pouiid- The yearling 



