Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-01-17

| mics by reason of their eating the spawn
of the carp. as it sticks to the grass, logs
aud brush, turing the period of it's inca
atiOn.
The last letter | opened before COM
ing out To this place was one frUm some
country man who ia led to affix the
name of the State from which he hailed,
and is by the wording of his letter man.
ifestly not much given To that branch of
literature, but his letter is none tile less
interesting and vain lble for exact data
on that account, anu l hereto append an
extract therefrum, and make some cdl-
culation5, and | might ~ that L have
done much better than even this. but |
prefer giving it to mine. The writ r says:
ION the Ilth day of December last |
received yours. and am pleased to b ar
OF your great success with German carp.
| am fully convinced that it will pay
well. l went to where Mr.. Brown
drained his pond; he had nineteen carp
two years old in his pond, and he took
them Out-the largest was twenty i've
inches long and weighed eight pounds.
The nineteen together weighed 135
pounds. He had 70 young ones of diff
ferent sizes, from two to four and six
inches in length. This is the best show
ing of fish | ever saw. The pond is l3O
feet long, 40 feet wide and feet Deep"
What think you of that for datum?
and yet have done better both in num-
Der of pounds and number of fish, but
probably this Is aS much as you can
stand, and as | know this not to be by
any means an improbable story, and ac-
cepG it as truthful, let US draw few
conclusions therefrOm by computing the
water surface in the above pond, and see
what fraction of an acre is contained
therein, and at the same rate what the
production of an acre would be, and the
amount of labor, ETC.. ETC.:
lSt. A pond l30x40 feet eqnals 5000
square feet I'd. There are A, $50 square,
teet In an acre; and, consequently, there
are about S15 such ponds in AN acre.
Now, If 300 square feet will produce 10
fish weighing l35 pounds and Is small
iSh, 2. 4 and u inches, each weighing
from one to two ounces, but safely say
) pounds. in all making 140 pounds, what
will 1850 square feat produce? We
have the 200 so. it. is to
40 lbs. aS 43 $50 So. ft. is to the number
of pounds an acre will produce. or LIZ
pounds, which at 10 cents a pound, will
amount to SIl7.20. The above may look
startling, but | Can assure my hearers
that [ have done much better than this,
but prefer to relate the above rather
than tax the credulity of my hearers
with my own experience. | think that
data like this should be quite sufficient
to set the question OF profits at rest, and
should suggest to every one the advan-
tages resulting from that thing of beauty
and Joy forever, beautiful artificial
lake. | might epumeTate other advan-
tages resulting from their construction
1t is all old and truthful saying that all
work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy. Farmers are as a rule too prosy;
boys are and always will be boys, and l
might add girls, too, and always will be
girls, and who would have it otherwise?
We are all gregarious in cur nature and
seek company, recreation and amuSe-
ment, and what is more enjoyable in the
winter than a skating pond, where the
young folk meet and go through those
graceful giraIiOns on the ice. Let US
have amusement at home and promote
social enjOyments of this kind, or the
boys will go away from home, and find
it probably in those schools of vice legal
lied by Christian people, commonly
called saloons.
Again, ice has almost become a neces-
sity instead of d luxury as in former
years, and often the demand for this
now universally used article, will more
than compensate for the outlay 10 max
ing your ponds.
AS for myself, l find more pleasure
in the care of and looking after my pond
than labor. To me it is kind of enjoy
able recreation, and l am certain my
acres of water are many times the most
profitable acIes have, and hope to add
to them in the near future.
One great feature that l in conclusion
cannot fOrego mentioning. and that is
this: What other domestic creature
requires neither food nor housing during
the inclement winter season? Think of
this-the carp is a hlbernatOr like the
frog, snake or turtle; his life functions
are held in abeyance during the cold
season, and only when the genial warmth
OF the spring returns does he shake off
his lethargy and 60 in quest of food and
commence his wonderful growth.
Rev. ]. W. Moffatt, President of Wash
ington and jefferson College, was warmly
applauded by his many friends in the au-
dience, and delivered and address on the
topic of ~The Relations existing between
Education and Agriculture. Mr.. MOffatt
began his speech by the statement that
he had begun his career on a farm IN
Belmont county, and that he had done i
few things that farmers dO-had got up
a few times before daylight, and went to
bed before dark; these, he believed, were
peculiar to farmers. The first money he
ever earned in his life was on farm
within two miles of st. Clairsyille, where
he had hauled hay for two days for the
munificent sum of fifteen cent day and
found himself. He found the board, but
as vet. had not been able to find the 80
cents. He told this story to illustrate the
economy of the Belmont county farmer,
and not his dishonesty. l am not here to
tell YOU what l know about practical
farming; could tell you all that while
walked from this platform to the door,
but on the subject of the relation that eX-
lists between farming and education. You
are engaged in sowing seed in the ground,
| am engaged in sowing seed in the mind;
what you reap depends largely on the soil
in which you SOW; what is reaped from
my sowing depends upon the brain in
which the seed is sown. am a culturist
and YOU are agriculturiStS. Agriculture is
the base of Science-it is the base of all
cultures. Culture is anything that is cul-
tivated. From the time of Adam to the
present. agriculture has been first He
spoke of the int diligence of the farmers
of this country compared to other eoun-
tries; here they do not constitute what
is called peasant class; there is no caste
IN this country. Agriculturists are not a
lower class of soci :ty. The childr, n of
one mother may b come one lawyer, one
a doctor. one professor and one farm
er. Our farmers have always endeavored
to reap the largest possible crops from
the least outlay. We are criticised by the
English who say we are engaged in de
destroying our soil. Every energetic farm
er will try to get as much out of the soil