American Fisheries Society. 209 
protection could any progress be hoped for toward a proper en- 
forcement of the laws. The buffalo increased slowly, if at all, 
and instead of the former great runs in early spring, there was 
no perceptible increase. Then the carp was introduced. Liter- 
ature on the subject showed it up as a great fish, immensely 
prolific and of rapid growth, all that was required was a mud 
hole and a dozen carp to insure a year’s supply of fish. The 
farming community went wild over them, and in a single year 
3,000 ponds were constructed or arranged for the raising of fish 
in Illinois. I remember well the first carp Illinois procured. We 
were allotted a few hundreds and they were taken to St. Louis, 
and by some mistake, were put, with the Missouri allotment, in 
the Forrest Park ponds. The State Commission, of which I 
was one, went to St. Louis and insisted on having our share. 
The ponds were seined and I[ think I managed to get ninety-two 
of our allotment. Twenty-two of these were placed in the Sni 
Ecarte to save them, and the rest were issued, in lots of five, 
to various applicants. The next season the U. S. Commission 
had a large supply and Illinois was given a generous amount, 
so that every applicant possible was supplied. 
Again the effort to get something for nothing prevailed, 
and any old mud hole was utilized to raise the carp in. Hogs, 
and stock of all kinds, ducks and geese, had access to these 
ponds, but the carp, true to their nature, lived and grew fast, 
and as spring approached, began to show on the surface of the 
waters. From these conditions they were taken and cooked and 
naturally proved a disappointment, soft, oily and muddy in taste. 
With the help of the county papers they soon got a bad reputa- 
tion, and why not? Black bass, under the same conditions, 
would do the same. Then the ponds were neglected and soon 
became broken, and the carp escaped into the creeks, and from 
thence into the larger streams, until in time they became well 
and thoroughly stocked with carp. Fishermen began to take 
them, but threw them away as worthless, for their name had 
gone before them; with so much adverse criticism they had been 
condemned from the start. 
Then followed a year in which more intelligent attention 
was given them. Men made ponds for fish culture and gave 
their fish the same chance they gave their stock or poultry, good 
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