Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-08-18

for the farmer to cultivate is the Ger
man carp. Right here 1t may be re-
marked that young carp are distrib-
uted free by the United States gov
ernment. The way TO get them is
this: Write to Professor S. +. Baird,
United States fish commission, WASH
ington, d. c., for blank application.
Fill it out as required, get your
United States senator or representa-
tive to indorse it, and then return it
to Professor Baird. You will get
the carp at the proper season for dis
tribution.
CARP POND.
The young fish will be distributed
from October to April. Have your
pond all ready to put them into.
Very exact directions for building
pond have been given by Charles W.
Smiley. These have been published
by the United States government for
gratuitous distribution. 1t isn't
bad sort of government after all.
The pamphlet should be got and
studied by everybody who intends
going into carp culture. For this
pamphlet write 20 Professor S. f.
David, Washington, d. G. Ask him
TO send you "Carp and Carp Ponds"
by Charles w. Smiley. The first
part of the pamphlet is in the form of
question and answer. 1t answers llS
questions that have been put TO the
fish commission about a million times
each, more or less. They contain all
that 1t is necessary to know about
raising carp.
The boys of the farm can start
pond, when it is not convenient for
the master himself to do so. They
would like no better fun. The les
sons they would learn in mechanics,
and the ways of water and its inhab-
itants will be worth more than even
the food value of the fish themselves.
An ice pond will do very well to
raise the fish in; or pond can be
made at a spring or in depression
in meadow-any place where there
is a body of water that will not stag
nate. II, in meadow pond the
drainage of the surrounding surface
can run in, all the better. 1t is rich
in matter that will be food for the
fish. Freshets must be guarded
against. The carp like still, warm,
muddy water. 1t is lazy,quiet fish.
The pond may be very shallow, eX-
cept in one or two places. There it
should be as much as five feet deep,
for the fishes winter quarters. They
burrOw in the soft mud in winter.
GERMAN CARP.
The carp belongs to the gold fish
family. A writer in The Southern
Cultivator, who has had experience
in this line, says he knows OF no in
vestment that will give better re-
turn. lie put sixty-three fish in
small pond in 1883. A year later he
put them into larger pond, three
quarters Of an acre in size, and found
forty-seyen fine large fish. That
spring they spawned. In the fall the
writer drew the water of, and found
not less thon so 600 lively little fish,
three 10 nine inches long. lie says
that with good care an acre ponu
will raise 1000 TO 1000 fish a year.
They should not be left TO themselves
altogether, but should be fed, like
pigs and chickens. Like these, too,
they can be trained perfectly to come
at feeding time. They become so
in time that they can even be caught
with the hand. What fun it will be
to the farm boys and girls to feed and
tame them
When well fed, they grow to fifty
and seventy-fve pounds. They are
good eating at 3 years old. In the
old royal palace at Fontainebleau,
France. there is a carp that is said to
be 300 years of age. The old fellow
is blind as bat, but still very lively
at feeding time. He has lived longer
than any government has been able
to do in France for good while.
The writer above mentioned sells
his young carp to people in his local
ity for stocking ponds of their own.
The fish he has can be caught readily
with hook and line, he finds, although,
carp generally can not be. He feeds
the fishes on bread, dough, boiled po-
tatoes, cabbage, green corn cut from
the cob and grain of all kinds. The
season for the carp to come upon the
table is October to May. This is just
when fresh food is scarcest. The
government pamphlet gives pictures
of the various processes required in