PRACTICAL CARP CULTURE. 11 



345 carp of different varieties and sizes, namely, 227 mirror and leather 

 carp and 118 scale carp. 



On the 26th day of May, 1877, these were planted in the Druid Hill 

 Park ponds at Baltimore, Md., and remained there while the ponds at 

 Washington were being prepared for them. They did not do well the 

 first season, and the distribution of young fry did not begin until the fall 

 of 1879. Then 6,203 were sent out to 273 applicants from 24 States. In 

 1880, 31,443 were distributed to 1,374 applicants from 34 States and Terri- 

 tories. In 1881, 113,605 were distributed in lots of 15 to 20 to each appli- 

 cant. By this time many of the fish commissions of the different States 

 and Territories that were supplied early by the national commission, had 

 young carp of their own raising and begun to distribute them. Prominent 

 among the States early and largely distributing young carp may be named 

 Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee 

 and Iowa; New York, Pennsylvania and other States and Territories 

 falling quickly into line. Each year since then the commissions of the 

 several States and Territories, as- well as the national commission, hava 

 had a constantly increasing number of fish to dispose of, and the appli- 

 cants for them have been without number. It is very safe to estimate 

 that these several commissions have supplied not less than 500, 000 different 

 persons with carp. Many persons applied and were supplied more than 

 once. The second season after the first distribution by the national com- 

 mission many enterprising citizens had young carp to sell, and 'with 

 Yankee ingenuity and energy, pushed their interests, sold all they had at 

 from $5.00 to $ 10.00 a hundred and had orders booked for the next hatch. 

 The number of those persons having young carp to sell increased many 

 fold each year, until now they are very numerous. Add to those supplied 

 by the Government, those who supplied themselves by purchase, and the 

 whole number will not fall short of 1,000,000 persons that have tried carp 

 raising. Some failed in the first year's experience and some have failed 

 since, but the number of failures is constantly decreasing, while the num- 

 ber of successes is as constantly increasing. This is brought about by the 

 lessons of experience bought dearly, or obtained cheaply from others. It 

 is quite certain that as great a per centum of the whle number have 

 succeeded in the growing of carp as would have succeeded in the raising of 

 poultry. The account of their success, the method of attaining it, the 

 table qualities of the fish, etc., must form the subjects of other chapters. 

 Suffice it to say that there is not a State or Territory in the Union without its 

 carp ponds ; that many of our rivers and streams have carp in them, that 

 have escaped from ponds through freshets, overflows, broken dams, etc., 

 while in an occasional emergency they have been dumped in the streams by 

 the Government's agents, to save them from loss, while some streams in 

 Missouri have been stocked with them by the commission. Carp weigh- 

 ing from 8 to 12 pounds have been taken from the Ohio, the Illinois, the 

 Missouri and other rivers. Many of these catches have been eaten by 

 epicures, and their flesh pronounced excellent. 



