Part I.] Fish Ponds. 25 



supply of water. This is particularly a fine arrangement 

 where the ponds can be supplied by a small stream or spring 

 of water that can be made to flow through them. 



The Ideal Pond has Drain Pipes. 



The ideal pond is the one that has pipes so arranged that it 

 can be drained once a year or at pleasure. When the dam is 

 constructed such pipes, from three to eight inches in diameter, 

 depending upon the size of the pond, should be placed in the 

 bottom of the dam at the deepest place to which the water in 

 the pond naturally drains and at a place where the water can 

 be run out through the pipe to the best advantage. One or 

 more small pipes should be located higher up and at conven- 

 ient places where they could be used for turning water into 

 a tank for watering stock, or for irrigating garden patches, or 

 for any other purposes needed. 



Animals Should be Kept Out of Ponds. 



No animals, not even ducks and geese, should be allowed to 

 run loose in the ponds. They destroy the vegetation along the 

 shore line and muddy the water; and in case of ducks, geese 

 and pigs, they eat not only the food that belongs to the fish 

 but the fish themselves, especially the young fish. By work- 

 ing the shores for food they also destroy the better part of the 

 natural breeding and feeding grounds of the fish. 



GROVES OF TREES ABOUT PONDS. 



After the pond is built, groves of trees, if they are not al- 

 ready there, should be planted. The kinds to be planted de- 

 pend upon the surrounding conditions and environment, but it 

 is always safe to plant the varieties that naturally grow in the 

 locality and others that have been tried and are known to do 

 well in localities where conditions are somewhat similar. Cot- 

 tonwoods, maples and willows usually do well near ponds even 

 in the drier parts of the state. (See page 12.) 



South of Wa Keeney, on the Saline river, there is a grove of 

 ash trees with some hackberry trees growing with them. This 

 grove is from 30 to 300 yards in width and extends along the 

 river for two or three miles. It would seem -that these va- 

 rieties of trees might be grown in other localities in the west- 

 ern parts of the state. There are walnut trees growing on and 

 near the Hatchery grounds that are loaded with fruit now 

 (August, 1910) . Walnut trees might be made to grow in other 

 localities in this part of the country. Russian mulberries are 

 good trees to plant about ponds. They bear an abundance of 

 fruit that attracts many birds. While eating the mulberries, 

 which have a long fruiting season, the birds as a rule do not 

 disturb other kinds of small fruit to any great extent. 



