21 



fish is an averag-e haul. These seines are thrown out from boats and are 

 drawn in to shore b^' hand. Seines are from twelve to twenty-four feet deep, 

 althouo-h lake seint's are deeper than those iised in the river. Seines cost 

 from S")0() to •ST'iO apiece and arc made larf'-ely in Chicao"o. althoug'h some are 

 manufactured in .loliet and St. Louis. vSet nets are made at home and sell for 

 about igT.OO each. Capt. Schulte has 300 nets and four seines. All seines and 

 nets are tarred twice a j'car in order to preserve them. Over 2'M barrels of 

 tar are used each 3'ear for this purpose at Havana, it being- shipped from .Jack- 

 sonville, where it is produced by tlie g"is compan3\ Two hundred men are 

 employed the year i-ound in fishing within ten miles of Havana. 



It is said to be a fact that quite a portion of the Chesapeake baj\ or dia- 

 mond back terrapins, which are served to gornaets in fashionable restaurants 

 in \\'ashinf>'ton. lialtimore. Hoston and New York, come from the Illinois river 

 at Teoria. I'ekin. Havana and other points in this State. The price is usually 

 $1.50 a portion. The Illinois river has been stocked with diamond backed 

 terrapins and many hundreds of dozen are annually sent to eastern cities. 



So far this year ^.5.000 dozen turtles have been shipped east from points on 

 the Illinois river. Of these a large number were terrapins, or as the boj's call 

 them "mud tiirtles. " Pekin, Havana and Peoria together shipped 6.000 dozen 

 turtles, while Pekin sent l.o.OOO pounds of snapping txirtles east. Terrapins 

 are a distinct breed, but it is said that turtles and terrapins look so much 

 alike that only experts can often tell the difference. It is also claimed that 

 when the price of the one is so very hig'h and of the other quite low. that 

 thej- sometimes get mixed, either in shipping or else in the hands of the east- 

 ern dealers. 



At the meetings of the American Fisheries Society, at whose 

 annual meeting all matters of interest relating to the propagation and 

 protection of fishes are taken up and discussed, the carp question 

 seems to come up regularly as a question for discussion. AYhen it is 

 considered that for years none but adverse reports on the carp had 

 been entertained by the members of this society and all kinds of 

 crimes had been attributed to this fish, it is pleasant to observe what 

 a radical change has taken place in public sentiment in regard to its 

 merits. The Pennsylvania Fish Commission has secured legislation 

 making it a misdemeanor to plant carjD, and one of the members in 

 discussing the carp said: "I am stating the cold, hard fact, when I 

 saw that the legislature of Pennsylvania has practically declared it 

 an outlaw by prohibiting the planting of it any longer in our waters.'" 

 On the other hand, a member from Michigan said: "I think the 

 carp was sent here as a blessing to the poor. The carp is here to 

 stay, and all the l^arrels of money we can open will not destroy them. 

 I like them and am going to keep on eating them." Mr. Titcomb of 

 the U. S. Fish Commission said: 



'•I did not intend to say anything on this carp question. It has been 

 threshed over at every meeting and still it comes up. I was onh' going to 

 say that it seems to resolve itself into a sectional question: it is a sectional 

 issue. For instance, with our present knowledge of the carp, we would not 

 ship them to the waters of Maine, or the waters of Pennsylvania, but there 

 are a great many states in the Union where the carp today is a very valuable 

 food fish and where the people enjoy it on the table: there are places even 

 where they enjoy it as a game fish to catch with hook and line. The I'nited 

 States IJureau of Fisheries continues to receive applications for carp, which, 

 owing to this feeling in certain sections of the country and among the in- 

 fluential classes of sportsmen perhaps, are not distributed any longer: the 

 people who have asked for them then refuse to take any other fish in many 

 instances, and are often quite indignant because they can not have the carp. 

 Some of them persist until they find oiit where they can seciire the carp and 



