CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION OF CARP INTO THE UNITED STATES, AND A BRIEF REVIEW 

 OF THEIR HISTORY PRIOR TO THAT DATE. 



Carp arc here, and here to stay. Whence and how they came are 

 matters only interesting as a part of their history, which is classical and 

 ancient. In the earlier days of their culture in America, this history was 

 of much more importance than it is now. Then, it gave them a prestige 

 that commended them to our good-will; now t from more than a quarter 

 of a million of carp ponds in this country, they bring their own unim- 

 peachable credentials. They have made for themselves, in the United 

 States, a record even more satisfactory than that which is registered of 

 them in Germany, and this latter excels all their other European history. 



Were this work intended for those, only, who now have carp, and 

 who are more or less familiar with what has been published on the subject, 

 it would matter little whether, or not, anything was said on the part of 

 the carp; but in educating those persons uninformed on the subject, 

 history becomes fundamental. 



There is no authentic account of the introduction of carp into Europe. 

 It is only certain that it occurred many centuries ago, and that the stock was 

 brought from Central Asia or Persia. In Bohemia, Austria and Southern, 

 Central and Northern Germany they have long been domesticated, and 

 are plentiful in the large rivers of Europe, from whicja many of fabulous 

 size, as reported, have been taken. They are mentioned by Aristotle 360 

 years before Christ, and by Pliny 50 years after Christ. 



The largest inland fisheries of Europe are the carp fisheries, simply 

 because the carp, of all fish, is the most excellent pond fish known to the 

 world. Of all Europe, Austria is credited with the earliest efforts at the 

 production of carp, and has the renown of the largest artificial ponds on 

 the globe. Here the culture of carp is traced back to the year 1227. In 

 England their culture is traced to the year 1500, in France to the year 

 1525, and in Denmark to the year 1660. 



The character of the ponds established in Europe will be best appreci- 

 ated when it is understood that ponds built at Bohemia, in Austria, in the 

 latter part of the fourteenth century, are not only still in existence, but, 

 their banks improved with the solidification and vegetation of the cen- 

 turies, they are to-day the admiration of all comers. The ponds of the 

 Princes of Schwarzenburg, altogether, cover an area of at least 20,000 

 acres of ground. This would be one fifth larger than an ordinary town- 

 ship in the United States. All of these ponds can be drained at the 

 pleasure of their owners, and are beyond doubt the most extensive of the 

 kind in the world. Their product amounts to about 500,000 pounds of carp 

 a year. Other very large ponds exist in the Provinces of Silesia and 



