228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Sometimes I would say, "Here, George, is a perch," and up would come a 

 wriggling perch. Then, again, "George, here's a da«e," and sure enough the dace 

 was hooked. I kept this up for some time, for the fish were biting voraciously. 

 George looked on with solemn awe. He said I must be in league wilh some fair 

 mermaid, whose assistance was invaluabla But, in fact, to an old stager of the 

 hook and line, the peculiar nibble of each variety of fish is generally known, the 

 bile of a bass in particular being unlike any other. 



Of late years the German carp has been introduced into this country, and are 

 thought a great deal of by those, probably, who have had the least to do with 

 them. There were those who fancied we had not a sufficient variety native to our 

 waters, but must needs introduce this foreigner, which is said to grow to the pro- 

 portions of a good-sized shoat, and very much after the nature of a hog. They 

 grow very rapidly, if there is any virtue in that, and it is said that a carp of a year 

 or so is fit for the table, if, indeed, a carp is ever fit for the table. They are very 

 much of the nature of a buffalo, and we ail know what a buffalo is. Carl Nick- 

 Ijaus, in writing of the artificial feeding of the carpi, says: 



" The quantity corresponds to the demand for food by 1,000 pounds of liv^hogs, 

 if the greatest possible quantity of flesh and fat is to be produced. 1 was of 

 opinion that I must make the standard quantity of albumen the same as that de- 

 manded by the hog, and I did this for the purpose of not making it too low, 

 remembering the fact that the hog is the most voracious of our domestic animals, 

 requiring more food in proportion than any other, and that the rapidity of its 

 growth resembles that of the carp." 



I fiud that carp has been sent to Indiana from the fisheries for many years. From 

 1879 to 1881 there were four applicants to the Government fisheries who were sup- 

 plied with carp. I find that F. M. Churchman, Indianapolis, on December 4, 

 1880, received fifty carp; Staunton Churchman, December 28, received twenty-five, 

 and E. J. Howland and R. M. Thompson, on November 16, were also favored with 

 carp, number not stated. It is estimated that there are at the present time at least 

 1,000 ponds in the State, of large and small proportions, devoted to the propaga- 

 tion of carp, which probably would be better devoted to the fish native and to the 

 manner born. 



There is one thing that may be said in favor of the carp: it can live almost 

 •anywhere. It is by no means a dainty fish — almost anything and everything will 

 tend to support the life of a carp, and as it is a well-known fact that the acres de- 

 voted to fish raising produce four-fold more in dollars and cents than those appro- 

 rpriated to agriculture ; and the carp is such a prolific breeder, I do not know but 

 Ihat raising of carp would indeed be a profitable business. But then the taste for 

 -carp can never be as that for more delicate fish. For my own part, I never tasted 

 -carp, and in truth I do not hanker after it — our native fish are good enough for me. 



Our lake front is of such comparatively small dimensions that the troubles 

 there between the pond netters arc- hardly of State importance, although everything 

 • pertaining to fish culture should be of moment to our growing Slate. Up at 

 Michigan they complain of pond netlerp and their depredations. This is a mat- 

 ter that will no doubt bear looking into, and if there is that which h wrong it 

 should be righted. 



