Part I.] Fish Ponds. 7 



WITH STREAMS IMPROVED AND PONDS CONSTRUCTED. 



It is not impossible, in connection with the future develop- 

 ment of the state of Kansas, to bring about results even 

 greater than those indicated above by improving our natural 

 streams and ponds for fish-culture purposes, and more espe- 

 cially for the building of artificial ponds and reservoirs adapted 

 especially for rearing food fishes. At the present time our 

 rivers, streams and creeks are very much abused. Little or 

 no care is given to them, and it is a most lamentable fact that 

 many of them are used for sewerage purposes. At present all 

 kinds of filth is either thrown into the streams or allowed un- 

 heeded to run into them. 



As a people, we are skimming the cream from our fields, 

 taking all we can get in corn, wheat and alfalfa, and returning 

 nothing to the soil. The time will come when it will be neces- 

 sary to put fertilizer on what are now known as our very best 

 lands; the time will come when all the sewage and garbage 

 that is now being poured into the streams will be badly needed 

 as fertilizer for the impoverished farming lands; the time 

 will come when every stream in the state will be badly 

 needed by the people for various water supply and fish-culture 

 purposes, and when it will be unlawful to pollute any public 

 stream with sewage and garbage; the time will come, and 

 it ought to be here now, when the sewage and garbage that 

 now go into the streams will be converted into a fertilizer that 

 will be indispensable for the production of crops. The ponds 

 and streams of the state, instead of being foul mudholes and 

 sewer channels, bearing all kinds of disease germs, will be 

 improved and made to become a source of great pleasure and 

 profit. 



PONDS IN GENERAL. 



The subject of ponds is one that the writer has been in- 

 terested in for many years, and since his connection with the 

 State Department of Fish and Game his interest has been in- 

 creased and renewed, and he expects to give a considerable 

 amount of attention to it in the future. He hopes to be able in 

 different ways, and especially through publications issued by 

 the department, to place before the people of Kansas all the 

 information available on the subjects of construction, main- 

 tenance and use of ponds. Since the country has been occupied 

 by civilized people the greatest activity and energy have been 

 put forth to develop the lands for agricultural, horticultural 

 and live-stock purposes. Improved and scientific methods have 

 given better varieties of corn and wheat, better varieties of 

 apples and strawberries and better varieties of potatoes and 

 melons, but almost nothing has been done, particularly in 

 America, to develop the streams, lakes and ponds and to im- 

 prove the quality of food products that they do and could be 

 made to produce. 



