The record-union., 1891-12-22
..Two OF 4 KEep.o

Fishermen report that the carp are TAX
ing care of the catfish by eating the
small fry of the latter This fact added
to the demand for the catfish as food,
especially by the Chinese, who have for
it a special liking, removes at least to
some considerable extent the fear that
has been entertained of undue multipli-
cation of this fish in our waters.
But what is to take care of the carp? A
few years ago this fish was industriously
introduced into our streams and lakes. A
good many people prepared ponds and
went into the business of cultivating the
carp and for time the belief was enter
tanned that a profitable industry had
been inaugurated. But now the carp is
despised. 1t is found that it feeds on all
manner of filth; that it is more than
hog among fishes; that it is not good
food. its flesh being soft, tasteless and the
least nutritious. 1t has so multiplied in
our waters that it has become a positive
nuisance. 1t swarms IN the streams so
thickly that as the fish die off the carp
bodies make the waters foul. Last sum
mer the dead fish-all carp-foated in
the Sacramento in such numbers that a
boat could not be pulled up or down
stream five rods without the carrion col
iding with the oars. On the north bank
above the city these fostering carcasses
lined the shores for long distance, in
some places a foot deep, washed up by
the waves made by passing steamers.
The carp put into the Spring Valley
reservoir below San Francisco became
so thick, and the dead fish so polluted
the waters, that seals have been intro
duced in the hope that they win thin out
the nuisance by eating them. But the
seal never finishes a fish and the half
eaten carcasses of carp have to be raked
out. Draining the reservoir will proba
bly, be necessary to abate the nuisance.
The carp, furthermore, destroys the
food of water game birds, and ducks and
other water fowl are being driven to new
feeding grounds. Apparently, there is
nothing in the streams and lakes that can
work diminution of the carp, which is
now so plentiful as to greatly incommode
the regular fishermen and much increase
their labors. It was black day for Cali
fornia waters when the carp was intro
duced, and it will be good day for the
State when the last carp disappears from
our lakes and streams. But what is to
work this deliverance for us?
The English sparrow is another nuis-
ance. a single pair brought from
South Sea island twenty years ago is now
represented in California by millions of
these robber birds. They drive off the
song birds; they make the life of the
gardener miserable; they swarm in the
streets and yards. They are audacious
birds and fear nothing. In some trees of
this city at night they fairly load down
the branches. Here they may be netted,
possibly, and thus we may free ourselves
from portion of the nuisance. But who
is to do it? The cat is the enemy of the
sparrow. 1t manages to ''get away" with
good many of the brown-coated rob-
bers. Shall we cultivate cats in greater
numbers? We fear the remedy would
not sufficiently rid us of the nuisance.
In Ohio the little saucy sparrow has be-
come so great plague that the Legisla-
ture has put a price upon his head, and
the taxpayers have to foot the bills for his
funeral. Possibly we may come to that
pass in California. We are in need of a
prophet just now, to rise up and point
the way to deliverance from carp and
sparrow.