16 PRACTICAL CARP CULTURE. 



Bradenburg, while hundreds of ponds covering a few acres each, are scat- 

 tered over the entire country, and one, at least, is found on nearly every 

 large farm. The carp produced in these ponds form the chief fish diet of 

 the people. They are taken alive to market, are assorted according to 

 weight and kept alive in tanks, those of about the same weight being kept 

 in the same tank. They are sold alive; then, if the purchaser desires it, 

 tho marketman kills and dresses the fish to his order. At fairs and public 

 gatherings, carp are sold alive, killed and cooked to order and eaten then 

 and there by the purchasers a luxury with which the American railroad 

 and fair sandwich cannot compare. 



This outline gives the carp a classical and an historical standing that 

 must command for it great respect. 



The history of the introduction of carp into the United States has 

 never yet been, so far as we have seen, collectively and succinctly placed 

 before the people; nor is it the purpose here to occupy space with details. 

 The earliest importation was made b.y Captain Henry Robinson. About 

 the year 1830 he brought carp from Holland and placed them in his ponds 

 at Newburg, New York. From these ponds they escaped into the Hudson 

 river, destroying every chance of practical results from his effort. 



In 1872, Mr. J. A. Poppe, of Sonoma, California, made a trip to 

 Europe, and returning to the United States from Germany, as a matter of 

 private enterprise and speculation, brought carp home with him. He 

 made special arrangements, and every provision for their safe and success- 

 ful transportation, traveled with them and gave them his personal atten- 

 tion, and yet lost nearly all of them. He started with 83 carp, of all sizes, 

 from three feet long to the size of a steel pen, and, notwithstanding his great 

 care, but five of them arrived alive at his ponds in California. The 

 largest died first, and the very smallest only survived. On the 5th day of 

 August, 1872, these five tiny carp were, with much solemnity and many 

 misgivings, planted in his pond. In the following May, the original five 

 measured 16 inches each, and there were about three thousand of their 

 progeny. From these, California and the adjacent states and territories 

 received their first stock of carp. Though it looked like a speculative 

 funeral on the day that Mr. Poppe planted his five linger ling carp, yet it 

 was the birth of a bonanza of which the farmers of this country are now 

 reaping the benefit. It paid Mr. Poppe handsomely, and demonstrate* I 

 that carp could be successfully imported to and would thrive in America. 

 The success of this venture probably had its effect on the national fish 

 commission, and contributed to the formation of their purpose to bring 

 carp to Una country. 



COMMISSION'S IMPORTATION. 



Mr. Rudolph Hessel, a German of much experience in carp culture, 

 and now in charge of the Government ponds at Washington, D. C. T wa* 

 employed by the national fish commission to bring the carp to this 

 country and to oare for them when here. He arrived from Bre*ie~n 



