The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-05-17
Carp Culture.

| MT. L. N. cotton, OF Trader, s Point,
Ind, writes as follows to the Indianna
| Times of the ease with which these fish
may be raised: Two years ago last
November l received thirty three min
now carp, about three inches long, direct
from the United States fish commission
er. placed them in my pond, and
saw no more of them until the follow
ing summer. l saw no young fish the
first summer, but during the second,
hundreds of young fish came to view.
l took two with hook and bait in twenty
three months from the time that l put
them in. One measured seventeen,
the other nineteen inches in length,
the larger weighing three pounds and
ten ounces; so that the increase and
growth are all that we could ask for.
The quality | am satisfied will give bet
ter satisfaction than the greater MAORI
ty of fish you can buy on the market.
They have no small bones, and are very
tenacious of life after being taken from
+hA water and would keers longer than
most fish without dressing though all
fish should be beheaded as soon as they
are taken. Ponds may be made by
leveeing or excavating or both. They
need not be fancy, and may be irregu-
lar and in any shape that the locality
will permit. 1t takes but small sup
ply of water to keep a pond of one
half an acre full. If the water source
is high enough, should prefer leveeing
or excavating. Look out for gravel
beds or seams of gravel. There is
where you lose your water-through
gravel. By cutting a trench through
the gravel and filling with clay you
can stop the leakage. You should have
from four to six feet of water in some
parts of the pond, but you want more
shallow water for feeding spawning,
with plenty of aquatic plants for the
fish to feed on. Watercress is said to
be good The black muck bottoms, or
even clay, is better than gravel for carp.
The greater difficulty in making ponds
is to get rid of water of branches and
ravines that are liable to overflow
your pond in time of heavy rains.
They should be ditched around the
pond. There should be a place of dis
charge of surplus water a little lower
than the top of the levee, we'll protected
from wash by boards or stone. You
need not be alarmed about carp trying
to get out. They are non-migratory,
and in time of rain and storm or any
disturbance of the waters they seek the
bottom of the pond.
Make you a carp pond, if it is but
one rod wide and three or four long,
and you will be surprised at the amount
of fish you can raise in it by feeding.
If you have six sheep on an acre pasture
they will grow well, but if you put fifty
you will haveto feed or they will starve.
A limited number of carp will flourish
in pond without feed, but an over
stock must be fed. Throw in cabbage
leaves, potato peelings, turnlps cucum-
bers, watermelon rinds, or anything
that your pigs will eat, and you will be
astonished at what good feeders they
are and their CROWN. TiIIy Ike wheat
bread better than anything that t irarv-
fed. Ifyou feed at the same place in the
pond always, your fish will soon learn
to come there for their feed. Throw
in fewpellets ofbread that will sink to
the bottom and then some that will float,
and the fish will soon learn to come to the
surface. l have been unable to keep en-
tirely clear of excitement when a carp
two feet long rises to the surface to take
his food and returns lashing the water
with his tail, even though l have wit
messed it hundreds of times.