American Fisheries Society 153 



Now what of the future? The age of improvement, I be- 

 heve, will affect the carp as it does all else and changes will 

 occur that will greatly diminish the output. The Illinois 

 river, for 250 miles on either side, presents an almost un- 

 broken chain of lakes, usually flat, and many of them of 

 great area, that are ideal homes for the carp, but increasing- 

 ly each year, these bottom lands are being formed into drain- 

 age districts, and immense areas now producing hundreds of 

 thousands of pounds of carp and other fish are being drained 

 and the land cultivated. Such lakes inside of the levees as 

 are not affected by drainage will be controlled by private cor- 

 porations or individuals. The result will be that the river 

 will have to furnish all the fish for the commercial fishermen. 

 This condition is true of all bottom lands along both rivers, 

 and it will be a live question soon as to where the fish are to 

 come from. 



So far, there has been but little effort made to cultivate 

 carp for market and where such efl^orts have been made the 

 results for various reasons now matter of history were fail- 

 ures. I believe the time is now ripe to utilize the hundreds of 

 acres of water to be found throughout the State in the culti- 

 vation of this fish. With the knowledge we have of the life 

 habits of the carp, and the care and feeding and protection 

 necessary to its culture, the best results can be obtained. Sys- 

 tematic effort united with the same amount of care that 

 would be used in any other enterprise would result in success, 

 without doubt. Carp, like everything else, respond to care 

 and attention, and if given as intelligent care as would be 

 used in raising chickens may be expected to give the best of 

 results. In this way better fish would be produced and better 

 prices obtained. 



The great trouble is and has been that carp have been taken 

 from water at a high temperature, when the flesh would nat 

 urally be soft and unfit for table use if a good flavor be ex- 

 pected ; but careful investigation has showed that carp can be 

 so handled that all tlie muddy or oily flavor can be removed. 



Proper attention and feeding would add greatly to the 



