80 T-zccitty-uiiit/i Annual Mccfiiio 



THE VALUE OF THE CARP AS A FOOD PRODUCT OF 

 ILLINOIS WATERS. 



BY DR. S. P. BARTLETT^ OUINCV, ILL. 



I take up this subject with a great deal of hesitancy, know- 

 ing what wide discussion it has caused as to its merits and de- 

 merits, particularly its demerits, and that the concensus of opin- 

 ion may be opposite to mine: and who am I that I should 

 attempt to refute such varied authority? But permit me mod- 

 estly to preface my remarks by saying that I deal with the results 

 of carp planting in Illinois waters alone. Here I know whereof 

 I affirm, and I base my statements upon my experience only, and 

 with profound deference to the opinions of those who may have 

 reason to differ with me. 



Without egotism, I think I can safely say that few men in 

 Illinois have a more general knowledge of the waters of the state 

 than I have acquired. Twenty-four years of active work in the 

 Fish Commissions have taught me many lessons, and more than 

 once I have been convinced that I have been all kinds of a crank 

 in that time. The deductions of to-day may be diametrically 

 opposed to those of twenty years ago, made under similar con- 

 ditions, but with less experience to guide. From the investiga- 

 tions and experiments of the various fish commissions have come 

 many practical results, not the least among v\diich has been the 

 introduction of the German carp. After the United States Fish 

 Commission had nicreased its output of these fishes to an extent 

 sufficient to give carload lots to the different states, I was in- 

 strumental in securing a carload for Illinois, and accompanied the 

 car to the various points wheie the plants were made, and from 

 these plants has come one of the largest factors in the yearly 

 product of the waters of the state. 



It would not be worth while to record here the flood of criti- 

 cism that followed the introduction of this foreigner into Illinois 



