The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-02-10
Levi Davis in the Pacific Rural Press.

b 0LG 6AGaNNSA IL -
increase the production of their lands and
beautIfy their homes by labor, intelligence
and capital, they generally neglect the sheet.
Of water found in their possession, and il
Is high time attention was being given &c
them. Carp culture may be considered one
Of the principal means of making the water
productive. La early spring, when all Ma
ture awakes from her winter sleep, the carp
being a source Of income to the farmer by
the sale of fish two, three and more years old;
IN autumn, when the farmer depressed by
cares and anxieties, because the season has
brought too much rain or too much drought.
so that he has not even been able TO work his
fields in a rational manner, the carp, which
IS not influenced by the aforementioned ex-
tremes of the weather. will be a good source
of income.
While it requires a vast amount Of care and
labor to procure the necessary quantity of
food which the domestic animal needs during
the seven months of winter, the carp, so TO
speak, sleeps all through winter, and may be
termed the best domestic animal. When
they come to your table at any and all sea-
sons of the year, the carp is the best of all.
The carp has a toethless mouth, thick lips
and four barbels on the upper jaw. In place
of the usual teeth of the mouth there are a
number Of stout teeth on the pharyngeal
bones, which are arranged in three rows. 1t
has a single dOrsa! fin, which is longer than
the anal both these fins have at their origin
on their anterior edge a strong ray, which is
serrated in a downward direction. The caudal
fin is of a semi-eircular shape, and the nata-
tory bladder is divided into two sections with
a connecting air passage. The scales have an
entire edge, and the body is compressed on
tho sidac The 1anaraI noIo. of rho hacLraaI
sides is a dark olive brown, the abdomen ola
whit .sh yellow or orange tint. The c%oloring
depends, as with all fish, partly upon the age
and season, partly upon the soil the water.
and also upon the food of the carp.
The carp has occasionally been COM
pared to the buffalo fish, but has no
resemblance to it except that the simil-
arity of their coat Of scales neither does
the flesh of the buffalo fish ever come up to
the excellence of the carp.
Professor B. ird. tn. Chief Commissioner of
Fisheries, calls the carp the 9 farmers fish"
and predicts that within ten years it will
take a very important rank among the food
supplies. Carp will live and multiply almost
anywhere, grow rapidly, and are of excel
lent quality am solicited almost daily for
instructions how to prepare, care for and
manage them. In detail / shall now speak
to farmers and small pisiculturlsts 1 shall
not go into scientific principles. but merely
lay the foundation for them. First we will
speak of small ponds. such as will answer
for family use, one with eight or ten square
rods in it will, with good attention and care
produce us many as one family can use;
of course the larger the better.
Query: How de you make your ponds
Answer: IL makes no difference how
ponds are made or IN what shape they are.
so that there is a depth of four feet of
water in the deepest place, with consider
able shallow water. In a colder climate
where water freezes to a considerable depth
of course the water should be deep enough
to prevent its freezing to the bottom. ALI
ponds should lave a drain box at the bot
tom of the dam for two reasons: First that
you can draw all the water off without in
juring your dam and to seperste your fish if
also to see if there is anything
wrong or any enemies Of the fish in the
pond rhich should be taken out, of which /
shall speak hereafter. This box may be
Of four boards Sufficiently long to
reach through your dam. The two side
boards should have a groove cut across
Them about SIX inches from the end, deep
broad enough to hold a gate. The
side boards should sit on the bottom board,
the ends coming even, the top board just
coming against the gate. From the gate
10 the ends Of the side and bottom boards
should be covered with three-two inch
strips crosswise, the one next the gate and
the one at the end nailed smoothly and firm.
You want a wire screen over the end of the
box TO keep the fish from going
out when you draw the water off ian old
wheat riddle will make a good one). The
iwo-inch openings on the top are left so
that in case of a small supply of water you
IAN fill il with earth so as to prevent any
but with a good supply of water
top space may be boarded over tight,
the earth filling. This is the end
the box in the pond, and completes the
box. In making dams I prefer, and think it
will pay, to board it both sides say, have
our stringers two on a side, one at the
top and one at the bottom then setting the
rds against them, drive them down well.
This saves all wear and tear of the dam.
Across and on top Of the dam there must be
a waste box to carry of the water. This
nav be made of three boards, and the upper
end of this should be screened, also. to
keep the young fish from going out. The
gauze is good for this.
The pond should have plenty of water
cTeSS, llif anu grass, OF SOME OtneI diudSS
vegetation in 1t, for several reasons. First,
it gives shelter to the fish second, there is
a vast amount of food derived from it and
its accumulations; third, it is indispensable,
for on it the fish deposit their spawn or eggs.
The eggs are adhesive. and stick to the
sprigs or branches, and without this the
would fall in the mud at the bottom
md be lost. There is no need of this should
there be any stone or gravel in the pond.
Now, having a pond we must protect it.
and TO do this we must have a good canal
or dileh all round it to carry all the surplus
water off and not allow any overflow. This
all done. we have a pond ready for the
water. which may be warm or cold, fresh OF
salt, as the history of the fish show that they
will adapt themselves to all waters but the
warmer the water up to 100 degrees the bet
ter, and the faster the fish will grow. The
water should be kept at or near a uniform
depth. The flow Of water is Ministerial, so
that there is plenty of life in it. Of course