Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-19
SPORTING COLUMN.
IN AND OUTDOOR ADJUSTMENTS AND
GAME CULTURE.
The Field, Range, Track, Course, Cue
Ring, Stream, Sail, Car, Trap,
Kennel and Stable.

Ring, Stream, Sail, Car, Trap,
Kennel and Stable.
CARP CULTURE AGAIN.-Levi Davis, the
successful carp-grower of sForestville, So
noma county, writes under date of Febru-
| ary Sth, as follows 81 now propose to
drop you few more lines on carp culture,
| as the question does not subside in interest
in the least. | had 80 letters in January,
and 10 in February up to the 7th, and five
came to hand to-day, one of which l Will
answer through your columns, for which
| please send copy to MIR. John Cogswell,
Snrinofeld Lane county. Oregon. He
says: understand you are IN the fish
business. | write you for information
on the carp, etc. | want to know II
they will Iropogate in cold spring water,
and what would be the best temperature
for them to breed to the best advantage IN,
and how prolific are they in favorable
grounds, and what you feed them on,
and what is their weight at different
ages, also their habits IN winter? Ii
| they burrow in the mud and lie dormant
all winter or not Ii so, at what time do
they come out in the spring, and at what
age do they begin to breed? What does
it cost for few to start with-enough to
stock two ponds of one acre each? Now,
| will have to omit many things of interest
that might be said to Mr.. Cogswell on
these points, to bring this within the range
of newspaper article. Mr.. Hessell says
one of the charms of the carp is its adapt
ability to all waters. Spencer +. Bard
says that the carp will do well where the
| frog will. | find that they will increase
in spring to some extent, but the warmer
the temperature the better, even up to SO
| or so, and Professor Baird says that they
will stand it at over 1907. The tempera-
ture of my breeding-pond in summer is
from so to 20. DR.. Hessell says again,
that a carp weighing four or five pounds
will contain from 400, 600 to 500, 900 eggs,
and l saw an account of one that contained
$1,000 eggs. But my experience is
from l,000'to 1900 young fish to each fe-
male. They will eat almost anything in
the vegetable line that hog will, if the
food is boiled soft, such as cabbage, pota.
toes, pumpkins, lettuce, fruits, chopped
grain of any kind, etc. In good, favorable
ponds, where not too much crowded, they
will grow from one to two pounds per year
in weight | have one that at years old
is 30 inches long and IA inches in clrcum'
ference. 1t is said by writers on carp cult,
ure that in the beginning of winter they
will work out holes IN the mud (which are
called kettles) and huddle in in numbers
from 80 to 100, standing rather on end with
their heads together and so pass the win
ter but they do not do so here, in this
warm climate Still they eat very little
in the winter They always come out
when the rays of the sun have thoroughly
warmed the water. They commence
spawning Tor breeding) when two years
old, and commence in May or June. My
own price list is as follows Eight good
breeders for So; u for SIS; "a for SIS
so for $50; one year old and past, 30 cents
each for "a fish and upwards and for
young fish, SIS per 100, or SIS per 1000.
It takes LOCO to the acre to stock ponds.
The better way is to get but few and
! raise YOUR own stock, where they are TO be
sent by express so far. Now l have been
short. l cannot authoritatively state the
prices of other carp culturists l have
| raised my fish by attention to them, and
have been glad to aid other fanciers IN
stocking ponds, where / can do so without
loss to myself. have in this letter been
brief, but hope comprehensive. "
RETRIEVING SPANIELs "A good retriev-
ing spaniel, owing to his beauty and intel
ligence, is most companionable dog and,
as his work is not so hard as that of a set
ter or pointer, who has to range fast and
far to find his game, he IS lit to work every
dav. When worked with settlers he should
| keep little in rear and a little to one side
| of the gun, so as to be able to see what is
going on and mark where the dead birds
| fall and the wounded ones go down, in
order that he may retrieve them without
delay when told to do so. This is the
hardest part of his work to learn, and
nothing but plenty of experience will make
him perfect at it. 1t is necessary that he
! should have first-class nose and know
how to use it in following up wounded
game, otherwise he is not worth his keep.
When ordered to hunt out any rough
ground or cover he should keep within
gun. shot, and if put into branch, or other
strip of cover, keep opposite the gun. For
rufied grouse, cock, snipe and rabbit shoot
ing he should be as good or better than a
setter, and for duck shooting (being small
enough to take In a cancel ne is better than
any other dog. Indirectly, his great value
to a sportsman who keeps a number of set
tiers and pointers is that, as he does all the
retrieving, they can be trained to drop to
shot, and thus kept ont of the great tempta-
ton to be unsteady that they would other
wise be subject to. Allowing settlers and
| pointers to retrieve is, as every expert
| enced sportsman knows, the chief source of
unsteadiness. l have consulted several
sportsmen on this point, and they nearly
all tell me that they find it unsatisfactory,
but do not see how it can be helped. AS
matter of fact there are very few settlers
or pointers that retrieve tenderly and well
in every respect, and are at the same time
quite steady at their other work. Many a
! time, when hunting with friend and his
"dog of all work, have I been annoyed
by his rushing in to pick up my dead birds,
and thereby flush one or more single birds
that had been marked down out of a nicely
scattered covey. While on the subject of
! retrieving / want to point out that if a set
ting dog is intended to retrieve he ought
not to be taught to drop to shot, for
if he does so how can he mark the dead
and wounded birds At one time Iowned
a very clever and experienced retriever Il
mean q QO9 BTSu anu tAAlulu . JUCidi4y AOA
the purpose) He never spoiled my sport
by running in, but have sometimes seen
him run to the top Of a knoll, or other
high ground, to watch where wounded
bird was going to- With him l never
troubled myself to mark any of the dead
or wounded birds-he always brought them
promptly, and | really do not think that in
a whole season he has lost three birds that
it was possible for him to get Had he
been taught to drop to shot, how could
he have done such good work! Except for
certain places, do not advise the use OF
the real retriever in this country, as l be-
lieve good spaniel would answer the pur.
pose better on the whole, being smaller,
and the retrieving in general not nearly SO
diff gult as it is in Great Britain. For a
man that does not want to keep more than
one dog, let him by all means teach him to
retrieve, but not allow him to run in as
soon as the gun is fred, nor drop to shot