32 



and transport to the United States, the best vaiieties, and 

 also arranged with your ^Commissioners to receive the fish 

 brought out bj Mr. Hessel, and breed them in ponds which 

 had been prepaied for the purpose in Druid Hill Park. We 

 quote from the report of the United States Commissioner, to 

 show his estimation of the importance of their introduction. 

 ''Sufficient attention has not been paid in the United States 

 to the introduction of the European Carp as a food fish, and 

 yet it is quite safe to say that there is no other species that 

 promises so great a return in limited waters. It has the pre- 

 eminent advantage over such fish as the black bass, trout, 

 grayling, etc., that it is a vegetable feeder, and although not 

 disdaining animal matters, can thrive very well upon aqua- 

 tic vegetation alone. On this account it can be kept in tanks, 

 small ponds, etc., and a very much larger weight obtained, 

 without expense, than in the case of the other kinds 

 indicated. 



It 18 on this account that its culture lias been continued for 

 centuries. It is also a mistake to compare tlie fiesh with that 

 of the ordinary CyprinidaG of the United States, such as 

 suckers, chubs, and the like, the flesh of the genuine Carp 

 (Oyprinus carpio) being firm, flaky, and in some varieties al- 

 most equal to the European Trout." 



The Honoraljle Eodger North says: "This is the most 

 valuable of all kinds of fish for stocking ponds, because of 

 its quick groAvth, and great increase. If the feeding and 

 breeding of this fish were more understood and practised, the 

 advantages resulting would be very great, and a fish pond 

 would become as valuable an article as a garden. 



"Mr, Forster mentions seeing in Prussia, two or three 

 hundred Carps, of two and three feet in length, and one five 

 i'eet long, and twenty-five pounds weight ; it Avas su|)])0sed 

 to be about sixty years old." 



The Carp family are among the least car ni serous fishes, 

 tlieir food being chiefly soft vegetables, or decaying organic 

 matters, and at times Avorms and insects. They are easily 

 and cheaply kept, finding their food in any pond Avhich lias 

 been under water any length of time, and stocked with aqua- 

 tic plants. Another very decided advantage they have over 

 the salmon and herring families, is their capacity of living 

 in warmer and more stagnant water, and in fact their 



