AQUATIC PLANTS IK POND CULTURE. 



15 



merged plants, including the Chara, were killed, leaving nothing 

 below the lily pads for the protection of the young fish. During 

 the period when Chara was i)resent in gi-eat abundance and was 

 regarded as a nuisance and the lily as a desirable plant, some of the 

 bass ponds annually yielded an average of about 25,000 young fish 

 each, but after the lilies took the place of all other plants the annual 

 production dwindled to less than 2,000 fish to a pond. One is there- 

 fore forced to the conclusion that the water lily is a dangerous plant, 

 especially in ponds having soft, fertile bottoms, and that without the 

 submerged jDlants successful bass culture is impossible. By con- 

 trast, Chara, with its merit of 



being an excellent food producer, sV ^i c )rj Of 



comes into better esteem in spite 

 of its objectionable qualities. W*D' r\>^X'WyYC'>^ 



NORTHVIULE, MICH. 



At the Northville (Mich.) sta- 

 tion Chara took possession of the 

 ponds almost immediately after 

 completion. A few other plants 

 have obtained a foothold, but not 

 in appreciable quantities. The 

 ponds are devoted to the produc- 

 tion of small-mouthed black bass, 

 and the results have been quite 

 successful. A former superin- 

 tendent stated that he knew of no 

 other plant than Chara so pro- 

 ductive of fish food of the sort 

 acceptable to the young bass, and 

 the objectionable characters of 

 the plant did not, in his opinion, 

 offset its merits. 



MAMMOTH SPRING, ARK. 



Fig. 27. — White water crowfoot (Raniin- 

 cuJus aquatilLs). In ponds and streams. 

 Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south 

 to North. Carolina and California. Also 

 in Europe and Asia. (After Britton & 

 Brown.) 



At the Mammoth Spring (Ark.) 

 station, established in 1905, a por- 

 tion of the bottoms of three ponds 

 is composed of a heavy muck — 

 the remains of an old swamp bed — and in these portions there im- 

 mediately sprang up Chara, Elodea, Ranunculus aquatilis^ Cerato- 

 phyllum, Myriophyllum, ancl Potamogeton, the relative abundance of 

 each being in about the order named. The entirely new ponds and 

 those parts of the others newly excavated are of a clay and gravel mix- 

 ture. It appears from the report of the first superintendent that an at- 

 tempt was made the first two seasons to establish Ranunculus aquatilis 

 and Elodea in these latter, but that they were crowded out by Chara, 

 with results in all ways satisfactory. The superintendent had no 

 preference for any particular plants. 



At this station, on April 30, 1908, a pond 18,000 feet in area was 

 stocked with 20,000 (actual count) small-mouthed black bass fry. On 



