The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-04-10
GERMAN CARP.

HENDERsoNv1LLE, N. c., March 90
A short drive in the bracing, crisp air o
March morning from the pretty little
town of Hendersouvile, North Carolina
through winding and beautiful avenue
of rhododendrons and mountain laurel
and your correspondent was at Dun
Craein, the handsome residence of Fl. &
Ewart, 300 feet above Hendersonville
and $500 feet above the sea level
Standing in the broad and spacious ve
randas the view is beautiful beyond
description. At the foot of the hill
sparkles bright crystal sheets of water
beyond the little mountain town, with its
cottages, spires and churches farther yet
the lovely valley of the Ochlawaha, and
beyond all, the everlasting hills of the
Alleghanies, extending for miles and
miles unbroken ranges of lofty, blue
capped peaks, making in its entirety one
of the loveliest landscapes in our beautl-
full southland. The Constitution scribe
met with a courteous reception from the
proprietor of Dun Cragin who, upon
being apprised of the object of the visit,
at once consented to afford any informa-
ton in his power upon the subject in
question. The subject, need scarcely
add, was "Carp, the new Dutch imml-
grant, its culture and its future"
Without delay the Constitution opened
its batteries.
"What first lead me into the cultiva-
tion of carp upon such an extensive
scale ?" -,
"Well," answered Mr.. Ewart, II will
perhaps surprise you by saying that the
carp farm owes its origin to the Atlanta
Constitution. The graphic articles de-
scriptive of this fish, written few years
ago by the brilliant and versatile Grady,
first attracted my attention. | at once
secured from the United States fish COM
missioner, through the Hon. r. b.
Vance, NJ. c., from this district, few
dozen of the "carp fry" and placing
them in a small pond prepared for the
purpose, awaited results. The rapidlty
of their growth surprised me beyond
measure and when ascertained by eat
ing several of the fish then weighing
from l to II pounds, that the edible
qualities were nearly, if not quite, equal
to the shad, and infinitely the superior of
the perch, bass or sucker, I at once con-
cluded that the carp was the "fsh for the
Masses" and that its culture could be
made an exceedingly profitable business.
With this end in view built extensive
ponds, covering au area of several acres,
and stocked them with lot of fine carp,
only to lose them, however, in a year
afterwards"
eHow was that ?"
"By committing the serious blunder of
building cheap dams. The heavy fresh
cts of 1882, so destructive in your State,
swept my dams away, leaving me with a
dozen or more of my carp, and consid.
erable amount of experience on hand"
"What ne1tW
"Having learnt from actual experience
that it was folly to construct large carp
ponds, unless the dams were solidly built
1 at once began careful study of the
science of dam building, for science it
certainly is. After some time | decided
to adopt the Jones SYSTEM | regret
that l am not at liberty 10 explain this
system as application for letters patent
for this process of building, with its
concomitants, sluice. way gate, fish screen,
etc., is now pending before the United
States patent Office. But if you will
walk down to my ponds will give you
an idea of their construction"
A few moments walk and we were at
small pond of clean water, covering an
area of a quarter of an acre, just above
and connected with a lovely sheet Of
water covering an area Of FIVE acres.
"This small pond" said Mr.. Ewart, "is
my Matching pond. 1t is fed by the wa
ter of adjacent springs conducted in
wooden lroughs, and is from four feet to
two inches in depth. 1t is, as you see,
we'll supplied with needle grass, pickerel
weed, water lilies, and other acquatics.
The hve.acre pond below is the nursery
poud.' In that pond I have rs breeders
carefully selected for size and quality.
The depth of that pond varies from six
feet to two inches, the soil is black loan,
and rich in aquatic productions. The
shallow water, you observe, is lined with
willow and hemlock brush. Here during
the warm, sunny mornings of April and
May, the breeders spawn, depositing their
eggs, which are adhesive among the
twigs and brush under the surface of the
water. Did you ever watch fish spawn 2"
The Constitution scribe had not.
"Then you should do so, as the sight is
a novel and noisy process. Just before
the spawning season, the carp evince
great activity. Naturally sluggish, it
now swims rapidly through the pond,
and often, like nullets, jumps its entire
length out of the water. When ready to
deposit its eggs the female carp heads
rapidly for the warm, shallow water,
closely pursued by the male, sometimes
half dozen of them at time 'tumbling
heads over tails When the female
drops her eggs the male winning close
ly behind her drops his milt amongst the
eggs, and vigorously lashing the water
with his tail, mixes the spawn. This is
the act of impregnation, and the eggs
hatch in from six to twelve days, accord
ing to the temperature Of the water.
Whenever ascertain that the carp
are spawning, l examine the brush and
GWISS CaieluiIy anu etauoioi lhO oi"hSneS
covered with eggs to the Matching pond,
in which 40 fish are kept at all. Here
they are placed in water, shallow water,
and carefully protected from frogs, turtle,
etc, until ha,ched, when they are regular
fed with small particles of bread or
cracker crumbs saturated i'll sweet milk.
You observe trunk extending through
the dam Of the Matching pond into the
nursery pond ? This is the pass.way for
the small fry from the Matching pond to
the nursery. The mouth of that trunk
in the Matching pond is screened with
galvanized wire mesh large enough to
allow the little fry to pass through into
their nursery but too small to permit
ingress the larger fish. In the nursery
the hatch of this year are allowed 10
remain till November, when the pond is
drawn and the fry, now lively little
fngerlugs able to care for themselves,
transferred to the "stock pond" one
fourth mile above the nursery. This is
made by placing The young carp in forty