Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-04
FISH THAT ARE RAISED BY HAND.
The Carp Ponds Near the Monument and
Their Finny Occupants.

AhcH = Auuy occupants
DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF LAST SPRINGS
FLoops-rHE PROSPECTS foR sEAD-woSpEB-
Full STORY or THE cARP-HATCHINa FISH AT
THE PoNDs-HELPLEss GOLDFISH.
The fish hatchery at the base Of tho WASH
ington monument has been in mourning ever
! since last spring. And no wonder, considering
that the foods Of that direful season swept no
| fewer than 1000, 600 youthful fishes out Of the
peaceful nursery ponds into the raging waters
OF the Potomac. In the annals Of fish culture
no such disaster has previously been recorded.
In the waters that overwhelmed Johnstown
thousands we're lost but how feebly does that
unpleasant accident compare with this catas-
trophe, by which millions Of innocent crea-
lures, as yet too young to know their dorsal
| from their ventral fins, were engulfed in an
irresistible torrent rushing toward the sea.
The shad were all right, Of course. Who ever
heard Of a shad being embarrassed by an awk-
ward concatenation Of circumstance Two
million baby ones, already precociously de-
yeloped as to bones swan out over the river
banks without leaving behind them so much as
| scale, pour prendre congo, though doubtless
many of them will have the politeuess to turn
up again some other day in the nets of the PO-
tomac and Chesapeake fishermen. Carp by
myriads broke up the schools they had been
attending all winter to take an indefinite vaca-
ton
MAYBE THEY WERE ALL RIGHT TOO.
But the goldish-alas! What surmise is to be
entertained as to their fate? With only too
much certainty can it be guessed at. For, you
see, the goldfish has been domesticated for so
| many thousands Of generations in China and
japan before being brought hither that he no
longer knows his enemies. Put into a stream
and left to go on his own guileless hook, he
will wriggle along, happy and unsuspecting of
evil, never taking the trouble to dodge behind
| a stone when he sees big fish, until a wide
mouthed monster comes along and. without
stopping to shout Look at the doodr takes
the giided youth in at a mouthful. AS for the
exceptionally swell Japanese three tailed gold
hsh-a freak OF nature improved upon by arti-
nciai selection-it is, like China woman, so
fashionable that it can hardly locomote, and
furnishes With its brilliant color and waving
caudal inns, most attractive and helpless bait
| for the tinny deep-water pirates and cannibals.
1t would be quite safe to bet that, of the l00,-
600 goldfish that escaped from the ponds last
spring, not one is now alive. 1t is positively
painful to consider what must have been the
state OF mind of DR.. Hessel, the expert in
charge of the hatchery, when, after the subsi-
dence of the floods, he gazed upon his ponds,
which had contained over ,000. 900 inhabitants,
and found remaining only a beggarly 10000
the disgusting climax. he discovered that the
Hoods had restocked the pools with fully 500, 900
common river suckers and other worthless
specimens. This was, indeed, the irony of
misfortune.
HOPE AHEAD.
But by the time that the robins have nestled
again the ponds near the monument will once
more be agleam with the shiny sides of carp
and shad, for in May the Matching time will
have arrived when seine-nets yawn and fish
give up their eggs for artificial incubation in
glass jars. Then the newborn FRY" will be
thrown by myriads into the pools to grow up as
last as they know how, 80 that, when they are
big enough they may be disposed of where they
will do the most good in American waters The
shad will be scattered by thousands about the
Chesapeake and other spots profitable to that
fishery. You would believe them needed, too
If you could see one of the fish commissions
maps showing how the shores of every bay and
estuary are frlnged with pound nets and traps
so that 1t Is wonder how any shad coming
from sea to lay her eggs ever escapes at all. As
matter Of fact the fisheries would probably
have exhausted the supply of this delicious fish
some time ago If it had not been for the efforts
of the fish commission. The carp will be dis
tributed In patches of twenty to those who ask
for them.
STORY OF THE CARP.
Now, Of the carp there is a good deal to be
said that is quite new. This fish is an immi-
grant-an assisted one at that-and sixty-five
individuals of the species were brought over
from Bohemia in 1875 for planting in the ponds
at the foot OF the towering needle of Washing
ton. In Germany, you know, the raising of
carp is one of the greatest agricultural indus
tries, so many acres of lowland properly situ-
ated being counted upon as productive of so
many pounds OF fish per annual crop, Just as
so many bushels Of wheat or corn might be cal
10y for In El,aH 60
plants a certain number Of carp to the acre. at
the proper time for scaly sewing, in the same
way that he would apportion the requisite
quantity Of seeds for given space. His ponds
ne makes artiticialiy by damming the stream
that runs through his holding. so that the land
he chooses to devote to that purpose is over
flowed. The fish he puts in are propagated
with wonderful rapidity, for the carp is enor-
nously proific-it grows to three pounds
weight IN a. many years, and a single female
viii produce goo, 200 eggs at spawning. As
the demand serves the carp are drawn from
the pools with nets and sent to market. After
while they cease to thrive, however.
and then the water is drawn off
and the land ploughed for vegetable
produce, and thus the carp are actually made
to serve for helping to apply the great agricul-
tural principle OF rotation Of crops. In Ger
many the carp are sold alive in tanks; custom
ers go to market, pick them out az they swim
and order certain ones sent home either fresh
Killed or wrapped awe In damp cloths with
bit Of bread soaked in beer stuck into the
mouth of each fish to preserve animation.
Col. Mcdonald, the fish commissioner, told
The STAR writer that he had found in one place
near Hamburg 5000 acres, or nearly eight
square miles, of carp ponds cultiva ted to supply
the markets of that city. Because they wish
the fish to be always salable-and they would
not be SO when spawninR-the Germans put Q
number Of pike perch into each carp pond.
which keep the Ash SO annoyed that they have
10 time to think of reproducing their species.
10 eat the minnows, which otherwise would
fatten upon the food of the carp, black bass
have been brought from America and intro
duced to the pools.
FUTURE OF THE CARP.
The interesting application Of these facts is
found in the circumstance that the business of
rearing carp artifcially promises to become
before long great industry in this country.
Already tine progeny of the original sxty-five
fnny pilgrims from the fatherland have be-
come so numerous. through distribution BY the
fish commission, that the carp is today-though
unknown to America fourteen years ago-one
OF the most common and widely distributed
fishes of the United States. There is, in fact.
not county Of any state in the Union that has
not carp, and it is estimated that its introduce
tIon has added 81 600 900 annually to our ma
tional food supply. 1t is a new food, too.
and that was particular idea of the fish COM
mission in bringing it over To introduce to
the farmer q new edible for his table was some
thing worth achieving, not to mention the
pleasure of contributing enjoyment to the rural
4 II