Carp

“ My favourite Prussian carp, that love me as I love them, that come when I call them, that hurry to the side when I fillip the glass with my finger-nail, that watch me with all their eyes when I sit in the room with them, and that feed from my hand as a dog would, show at the tips of their pretty tails the sanguinary signs of gasterostean vengeance. ”

“ For big Carp have an enormous swallow, soft penny rolls being mere mouthfuls, bolted with ostrich-like celerity. So to prevent the immediate disappearance of these bonnes bouches, bread, in the form of larger balls than the most capacious Carp can take into his gullet, is baked until it becomes as hard as biscuit, and with these balls the Carp are regailed. Throw one into the lake, and you will quickly have an idea of the enormous Carp population it contains. For no sooner does the bread touch the water than it is surrounded by hundreds of these fish, which dart to it from all sides. ”

“ The body is smooth, and generally whitish. The carp both grows and increases very fast, and is accounted the most valuable of all fish for the stocking of ponds. It has been pronounced the queen of river-fish, and was first introduced to this country about three hundred years ago. Of its sound, or air-bladder, a kind of glue is made, and a green paint of its gall.
STEWED CARP. 243. INGREDIENTS.—1 carp, salt, stock No. 105, 2 onions, 6 cloves, 12 peppercorns, 1 blade of mace, 1/4 pint of port wine, the juice of 1/2 lemon, cayenne and salt to taste, a faggot of savoury herbs. ”

“ You have heard of the wonderful strength of the carp ever since Tara was born. You know that every father who flies a paper carp for his son at this festival time does it with the hope that the boy will heed the sign and grow courageous and strong to overcome every obstacle. ”

“ The carp is chosen as an emblem at the feast of boys on account of its strength and power to swim up against stream. In like manner a boy is supposed to push his way along the stream of life and combat difficulties. ”

“ The carp is very prolific and attains to a great age—to 100 years and even longer. The flavour of the carp is influenced by the character of its habitat. The well-known gold fish (Cyprinus auratus) , supposed to be a native of China, is allied to the common carp.
424.—CARP, BAKED. (Another Method.)
Ingredients.—1 carp, 3 tablespoonfuls of salad-oil, or clarified butter, 1 tablespoonful of Worcester sauce, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful of finely-chopped parsley, 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped onion, salt, cayenne. ”

“ The increase of these fish is very great: we are informed by Bloch that four male and three female carp, put into a large pond, produced in one year an offspring of no fewer than 110,000 fish. They are also extremely long lived, instances having occurred of carp living to the age of considerably more than 100 years. To fatten carp and increase their size, the growth of vegetation in the ponds where they are kept should be particularly attended to, as, during the summer-time, they principally feed upon this. ”

“ Man lives quietly like a fattening carp in some old pond for years, until some idle disturber comes and pokes up the mud with a stick, and the poor fish is in the dark. Presently comes another destroyer of peace, less idle and more enterprising, and drains away the water, carp and all, and makes a potato-garden of his old haunts. ”

“ The carp, which [Pg 143] even surpasses the pike in fecundity, and is a long liver to boot, was, on the other hand, an especial favourite, but it was served up with sauces that would certainly not tempt a modern gastronomist to eat a fish which is seldom worth eating, and which is almost defiant of digestion. Carp, reduced to a pulp, and served up with sows’ paps, and yolk of egg, must have been as nasty as gold fish with carrots and myrtle leaves,—the delight of the Roman loungers at their “Blackwall,” on the Tiber. ”

“ The carp as an item of food is, according to my ideas, a fraud. He tastes principally of the mud in which he has been wallowing until dragged out by the angler. The ancients loved a dish of carp, and yet they knew not the only sauce to make him at all palatable.
Sauce for Carp.
One ounce of butter, a quarter pint of good beef gravy, one dessert-spoonful of flour, a quarter pint of cream and two anchovies chopped very small. Mix over the fire, stir well till boiling, then take off, add a little Worcester sauce, and a squeeze of lemon, just before serving. ”

“ Of all fresh-water fish, the carp is one of the most cunning and difficult to catch where he is much fished for, though, singularly enough, they take much better in rivers than in still water. In still water, even if you can induce a good carp to pay attention to your bait (which you cannot always) , he will nibble, and turn it about, until he either sucks it off the hook without touching the hook, or he discovers the hook on the line, becomes alarmed, and swims away. Very fine tackle, therefore, is required in carp fishing; but as he is big and lusty, it should be round and strong. ”

“ The man, whose eyes have become very keen with practice, sees some carp coming up or going down the stream, and, throwing the plummet far out into the river, he draws it rapidly through the water, across the spot where he believes the fish then to be. ”

“ It is a very difficult matter to catch Carp with the bait, as they are most cunning fish to detect at once the deception, and swim away on the least sight of the rod or the shadow of the fisherman. The Carp haunt the deep parts of gently running streams, and those caught in rivers are the best ”

“ In China and Japan the carp is considered before any other fish for food, and is emblematic of strength, vigor, and other good qualities. It is a custom in Japanese households, upon the birth of a male child, to hoist a flag representing a carp, in order that he may grow in strength and all manly attributes. In England the carp is not much liked. On the continent of Europe it is considered a good food-fish, but it is confined in clear running water to deprive it of its earthy flavor before it is marketed or eaten. ”

“ Is famous for the sweetness of its flesh, when of moderate size, that is, when measuring about twelve to fifteen inches in length, and weighing about three pounds. The scales are large, with a golden gloss upon a dark green ground. These fish sometimes grow to the length of three or four feet, and contain a great quantity of fat. The soft roe of the Carp is esteemed a great delicacy among epicures. ”

“ The carp itself, Cyprinus carpio, has a very wide distribution, having spread, through the agency of man, over nearly the whole of Europe and a part of North America, where it lives in lakes, ponds, canals, and slow-running rivers with plenty of vegetation. ”

“ And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies soonest out of the water,
and of fresh-water fish the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures
most hardness, and lives longest out of its own proper element ”

“ Each fish belongs to some particular boy, and the carp is chosen because it is a big, strong fish, and not only can swim against the most rapid currents, but in its eagerness to get upstream will leap straight up waterfalls. The gold ball means a treasure, which the carp, leaping and struggling, buffeted by the wind, is forever trying to reach. And the whole thing means that the boy, when he ’s a man, will have to battle his way as the sturdy carp struggles up the river. ”

“ Outdoors a gigantic carp made of paper or cloth is tied to the top of a high pole, where it flutters when it is{298} filled with wind; the carp is emblematic of strength as it can swim up a rapid current. ”

“ The carp, altho it cannot live the shortest time out of water, yet is understood to bear transportation in water the best of any fish whatever. The obtaining breeders for my pond being too interesting to be abandoned, I have had a proper smack made, such as is regularly used for transporting fish, to be towed after the boat, and have dispatched the bearer with it without delay, as the season is passing away. ”

“ In the reeds adjoining a carp pool I once found a murderous instrument which was used by a gang of sawyers at work in the adjacent wood, for destroying the basking carp. It consisted of a large flat piece of wood, in which were set long nails like the teeth of a garden rake. This was attached to a long pole, and woe betide the unfortunate carp on whose back it descended.
Groping for trout in the shallow streams is a well-known amusement of country boys; but the dastardly and cruel practice of liming a brook is not now so often resorted to as it used to be. ”

“ There is also a certain curious tropical American carp which, though it hardly deserves to be considered in the strictest sense as a fish out of water, yet manages to fall nearly half-way under that peculiar category, for it always swims with its head partly above the surface and partly below. ”

“ Old Fulcher got thirty shillings for the carp, which I afterwards heard was much admired and relished by His Majesty. The master, however, of the carp, on losing his favourite, became more melancholy than ever, and in a little time hanged himself. ‘What’s sport for one, is death to another,’ I once heard at the village-school read out of a copy-book. ”

“ The Carp is wary, and often tries both the angler's skill and patience. The small ones, however, may be caught readily, but the large ones seem to have learned wisdom, "long experience having made them sage." They avoid the baited hook and the net; the latter by sinking into the mud, and allowing it to be dragged over them. They delight in still water where there are aquatic plants with large leaves: they feed on worms, the larvæ of insects, the spawn of other fishes, and the shoots and tender leaves of water plants. ”

“ These animals adhere closely to the backs of their own species, as well as to those of fishes. It has been remarked that they will even destroy pike; and it is certain that they materially injure carp, by fixing their hind-legs to the back of those fish, while their fore-legs are fastened to the corner of each eye; so that the carp become much exhausted, and frequently sink under the weight of so disagreeable a companion.—See Fumitory. ”

“ A very deadly way of killing chub, and certainly the most artistic method, is with the artificial fly, used as in trout fishing. Flies are made expressly for this purpose, and of these the best are red and black palmers, and the Marlow buzz.
THE CARP.
Carp are esteemed among the richest fresh-water fish we have in the kingdom, and are as cunning as foxes. The angler, therefore, must be “wide awake” to catch him, and also as patient as a saint. He may, however, fish for him at any time in the day during warm weather. The bait may be either worms or paste. ”

“ I shall therefore give you three or four more short observations of the Carp, and then fall upon some directions how you shall fish for him.
The age of Carps is by S. Francis Bacon (in his History of Life and Death) observed to be but ten years; yet others think they live longer: but most conclude, that (contrary to the Pike or Luce) all Carps are the better for age and bigness; the tongues of Carps are noted to be choice and costly meat, especially to them that buy them ”

“ For storing a pond, carp is to be preferred, on account of its delicacy, quick growth, and prolific nature, as it breeds five or six times a year. This fish delights in ponds that have marl or clay bottoms, with plenty of weeds and grass, on which it chiefly subsists during the hot months. ”

“ When this fish obtains an abundant supply of food it grows to an enormous size. Several continental rivers and lakes are very congenial to Carp, and especially the Oder, where this fish occasionally attains the enormous weight of 60 lb. ”

“ Carps and Loches are observed to breed several months in one year, which most other fish do not, and it is the rather believed, because you shall scarce or never take a Male Carp without a Melt, or a Female without a Roe or Spawn; and for the most part very much, and especially all the Summer season; and it is observed, that they breed more naturally in Ponds then in running waters, and that those that live in Rivers are taken by men of the best palates to be much the better meat. ”

“ When I draw a carp-fish with his mouth open in the smoke at the back of our Cave—if Mummy doesn't mind—it will remind you of that ah-noise. Then we can play that it was me jumped out of the dark and s'prised you with that noise—same as I did in the beaver-swamp last winter.'
'Really?' said her Daddy, in the voice that grown-ups use when they are truly attending. 'Go on, Taffy.'
1
'Oh bother!' she said. 'I can't draw all of a carp-fish, but I can draw something that means a carp-fish's mouth. Don't you know how they stand on their heads rooting in the mud? ”

“ They inhabit slow and stagnated waters in various parts of Europe and Persia, and were first introduced into England about the year 1514. Carp are a useful species of fish for the stocking of ponds, and for the supply of the table. In Polish Prussia they are an important article of commerce; being sent alive in well-boats to Sweden, Russia, and other parts. They are bred by the principal landholders of the country, to whom, in many instances, they yield a very important revenue. ”

“ Although partly feeding on worms and other small forms of animal life, the carp is principally a vegetarian, and the great development of its pharyngeal apparatus renders it particularly adapted to a graminivorous régime. The longevity of the fish has probably been much exaggerated, and the statements of carp of 200 years living in the ponds of Pont-Chartrain and other places in France and elsewhere do not rest on satisfactory evidence. ”