20 
CARP IN AMERICAN WATERS. 
By Leon J. Corr, or U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
As regards the culture of carp in this country, we find that, although 
there was for a few years an enormous demand for the young fish—hundreds 
of thousands of which were yearly distributed free by the United States Fish 
Commission and by many of the state commissions—their culture was soon 
abandoned in nearly all cases and the fish allowed to escape into the open 
waters of the vicinity. There are a number of reasons to account for this. 
People were expecting too much. They rushed into carp culture in entire 
ignorance of the conditions requisite for its successful operation, and, such 
being the case, it is no wonder that they were disappointed in the results 
and that their attempts were failures. In the second place there was also 
a general disappointment in the qualities of the carp as a table fish. Un- 
doubtedly, as in the case of its culture, too much had been expected, though 
perhaps not without some justification. Still, the bulletins that had been 
published and distributed made frequent mention of the muddy flavor of the 
carp when grown under unfavorable conditions, and emphasized the necessity 
of keeping such fish for a time in clear water before killing them. Then, 
too, the fish were often eaten at the wrong season, during the spring and 
summer months, when their flesh is admittedly poorer in quality than in the 
fall and winter. This is true of most fish that live in rather shallow and 
sluggish waters, and even black bass are seldom caught and eaten at these 
seasons. Perhaps even more important was the matter of cooking. It is 
generally conceded that carp should be cooked in special ways, and the 
Germans especially have many elaborate dishes which they prepare from its 
flesh. Most of those who tried the fish here cooked it as they were ac- 
customed to cook our native fishes and decided that it did not compare 
favorably with these, though, according to the statistics published by Smiley 
(1886), many appeared to be very enthusiastic about it. Finally another, 
important factor’ which probably led to the abandonment of pond culture in 
many cases was the increasing abundance of carp in the rivers and other 
open waters. It was found that what fish were wanted could be obtained with 
less trouble from the open waters than they could be raised. 
Although the carp did not fulfill the expectations in the matter of pond 
culture, it has more than done so in the way it has adapted itself to the 
conditions found in this country and the rapidity with which it has multi- 
plied in our waters; and we find that, instead of being generally used through- 
out the country and especially in those sections where it was thought it 
would be most appreciated on account of the poverty of the streams or the 
poor.quality of their inhabitants, it is being sold almost. entirely to the 
poorer classes of people in our large cities. The Illinois river, together with 
the other rivers of the Mississippi drainage system, is one of those localities 
in which it was thought that carp would be a most valuable accession, and 
such has turned out to be the case, though not in the exact way originally 
expected. Although practically not used at all for home consumption, it 
has nevertheless added very appreciably to the resources of the region. 
