CAEP CULTUEE 73 



The craze, for such only can it be called, 

 spread rapidly without any pretence of method 

 or intelligence until "almost every farmer had a 

 carp pond in his front yard, back yard, barn 

 yard, or somewhere." The crash came when 

 the fish were large enough to be killed. As 

 might be expected they were inedible. Their 

 flesh fairly reeked with a smell and a taste of 

 filth. The disgusted farmers tore down their 

 dams and liberated the fish with blackened char- 

 acters into the public waters. 



Unquestionably the carp is inferior to almost 

 every other fish native to waters like those of 

 Pennsylvania, but it is equally certain that if, 

 when it was first introduced into this country, 

 fish-culture had been advanced as far as it is 

 to-day, carp-farming would probably be a recog- 

 nised industry, yielding in the aggregate a huge 

 sum of money annually. As it is, a revulsion 

 of sentiment is slowly but surely taking place in 

 favour of this importation as a food-fish. 



Market Value. The carp undisputably holds 

 an important place in the market. It is worth 

 several hundred thousand dollars a year to the 

 state of Illinois. Over 40,000 pounds, two- 



