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

there will not then be unity nOtWlth
standing the aggregation of knOwledg,
then and there assembled.
In thinking over what would be most
appropriate To say on this occasion, AND
in looking over numerous clippings co
lected from time to time from various
sources, my eye fell upOn an article
describing the mode of tue whale in TAX
ing food in the ocean, the peculiar
structure of its mouth, and its beautiful
adaptation to this end, show ug thai
nature has provided "a fishing net fDr the
| whale SO that it can t,ke thousands,
and it is said millions of small species
of the jelly fish , and other small crea
lures that float in the ocean, ami it also
showed or rather described the kind of
trap or rather large comb. Depending
from the upper jaw which may be l6
or II to 20 feet long hangs kind of
fringe or pendent row of small long
bones; such are the WhSlebOne proper,
and of the same material as is seen in
The ribs of our umbrellas; these bones
IN the whale are about ten feet long.
solid at the upper end bnt fraying out at
the point or lower end fringy like; there
ire about 600 of thnse slots OF comb
|
large whale their weight will be about
1000 pounds. When hungry this ocean
| giant open its cavernOus mouth, let's his
lower lips drop down, drives through
| the water with all the force his power
| full tail can scull him; millions upon
millions of the tiny objects of his raid
are thus taken in and shut in, and then
| hOgSheads of water are forced through
this fine comb. so to speak, leaving the
ipaSs of jelly lish and mOlnsks inside to
be swallowed at will by this big fish !;
but here | had, as the canal boatman
wOuld;say, To Snub up-l found myself
talking or rather thinking, and deScrib-
| ing something that is not a fish at all,
and had to drop the su ject, but will
! here add-what | suppose my auditors
| well know that whale is mammal
and | might as we'll call seal or any
other aquatic and " arm bloOded animal
a fish as To call whale fish. The whale
is warm blOOded and air breathing, and
it also brings its young into the world
alive and suck es and cares for them IN
the most-motherly-like manner: but as
we do not propose to cultivate whales
perhaps this little bit of natural hstUr.
you what you already know. and leave
| thiS branch of the subject just here, and
my reference thereto was to show you
how nature provides the necessary facil-
lilies or tools with which animals Cap
ture their food. Now the whale in pos
session Of this useful appliance to cap
ture food is no exception, but only re-
ferred to because this creature is the
| largest of all animal nature. Nnen we
come down to examine the coDhgura-
t tlOn of other aquatic creatures we lind
this beautiful adaptation of means to
ends.
Look at the much lauded fresh water
shark, the black bass, about which we
hear sUInuch, and upon which your State
moneys Is being spent, and see now ad
mirably his form is adapted to subseTve
the end for which he lives, i. e.. to eat
other small fish, his own offspring not
even excepted; look at his large and
wide gaping M nth, armed with teeth
long and sharp as those of "a Tom cat
his protruding undeIjaw like that of an
English bull dog, his eyes set we'll up on
his head as if looking up at about an
angle suitable to kill upon the wing, and
always ready to pJunce upward from
the depths of the water aud take his
runaway prey in the rear-see his pow
ei full tail tin with which he scullS him
self with the velocity of an arrow
through the water, and you see perfect
model of an engine of destruction to
anything that SWins and shines, and
that he CT n get down his almost insatia-
ole gullet. Now WIS such Il fish un-
known and were one of them brought
TO a naturalist does any one doubt that
it would at first sight be pronounced d
predaceOuS liSh i. G., IA fish that lived
upon other small fish, and had great ca =
pdcity for taking its prey, and would be
the worst possible enemy to put among
fish of Il less predaceOus nature, such
dS the carp Is.
In looking at your programme l find
that | am to speak of carp culture for
pleasure and profit. Well as to pleasure
feel certain that nothing is SO well
done as that in which We take pleasure !;
and often that which PASSES for and is
called genius is nothing but the outcome
of application begotten of labor or ii
kind IT labor of love. | firmly believe
that the first products OF artists eminent
in their calling are all devoid of art,
merit and all that is excellent in their
productions in after life is but the point
of labor prompted by love tor that kind
of labor, and | go further aud venture
that the farmer who works under d Kind
of protest because he has no other way
of making livelihood, will never be-
come a model farmer as Will the man
who farms because he takes pride in
identifying his grounds and keeping his
outbuildingS neat and ornamental. L
therefore aver that the man who takes
to carp culture purely for the number of
pounds of fish he can raise to the square
rood will not achieve the standing or
realize the pleasures and profits thereof
as will the man who blends the useful
with the ornamental.
| am a great believer in following
ones bent and many mistakes and
wrongs have been entailed bv disregard
ing the penchant of our boys. In years
and times past it was the custom of
parents TO choose o: elect to what the
calling of their sohS ShOuld be in after
life--JameS was to be a minister, aud
William the farmer, aud the cOnSe-
quence was that the preacher was made
out of the stick that nature had cut for
the farmer and vice versa; fortunately,
however, this state of affairs does not
now exist. a wiser course is now the
order of the day, and this is rs it should
be, let us follow our bents and we will
all be the happier aud better therefor.
Let the boys say whether they will be
mechanics, agriculturalists OF profess
sional.
As to the profits of carp culture we
can only know this by small data. If a
farmer can raise so many pounds of any
article on given small quantity of
ground, then it is fair To say that like
results can be produced on twice, thrice,
or one hundred times the same area un-
der like circumstances-this is, think,
not unreasonable, and some data of this
kind | now propose to give you data of
my own, and also of another, and might
say many others bad them here.