THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 631 
very largely upon sowed corn, which was cut when about 1 to 2 feet 
high and thrown into the pond. The proprietors claimed that the fish 
would dispose of a load—supposedly a wagonload—of this in four or 
five days. At this same place the first year the pond was used the fish 
were not fed at all, and when marketed there was only half the weight 
of fish that had been put in. 
THE VALUE OF CARP PONDS. 
It is safe to say that under existing conditions, where at certain sea- 
sons of the year three or four men with a seine can obtain adult carp 
in almost limitless numbers with comparatively little trouble, carp 
culture in the ordinary sense would not be profitable. At least this is 
true in regions such as Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, where carp are 
so abundant. That regular culture ponds, in which the fish are reared 
from the egg until of a saleable size, could not be conducted with profit 
in proximity to some of the large cities which constitute the principal 
markets for carp is not so certain. Undoubtedly .s the demand for 
carp grows, as it surely must, such will be the case. 
On the other hand, there is no doubt of the great gain to be made 
by taking carp in the spring and early summer, when they come into 
the shallows and marshes in such great numbers, and holding them 
over to fall or winter, when the market price has sometimes multiplied 
fully tenfold. Let us take, for example, a suppositious case, based, 
however, on actual conditions. A moderate sized pond could readily 
accommodate, let us say, 50 tons of carp, and these could be obtained 
with comparative ease during the spring. At this season, when the 
fish are most plentiful, the price is often as low as 30 cents per hun- 
dred pounds, so that the market value of the whole 50 tons would be 
but $300, even if they could be disposed of at all at that time; for it 
often happens that when the fish are so plentiful many more are 
brought in than can be used, and great numbers bring the fisherman 
almost nothing, being only sent to be made into fertilizer. Now let us 
suppose that instead of disposing of these fish at such an unsatisfactory 
figure the fisherman pens, or otherwise holds them over the summer. 
Under at all favorable circumstances the loss in that time surely ought 
not reasonably to be greater than 10 per cent of the total number of 
fish impounded, even allowing for the damage to fish by handling. 
Indeed, in a properly conducted pond, there should be no loss in 
weight at all. The growth of the living carp, if properly fed and 
cared for, should adequately offset the loss of individuals. For the 
sake of fairness, however, we shall assume a loss amounting to 10 per 
cent of the weight, and that the total weight of fish recovered from 
the pond in the fall amounted to one-tenth less than that put in—in 
cther words, to 45 tons. Now, in the late summer, fall, and winter 
months it is not at all unusual for the price of carp to go to 2, 24, or 
