168 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



started to feeding upon crayfish they will take them almost ex- 

 clusively in preference to other kinds of food. When we drain 

 the ponds the large crayfish are removed and placed in ponds 

 where they can be properly handled as food for fish. Crayfish 

 placed in the ponds where the large Black bass are being win- 

 tered furnish the latter with a natural food that they seem to 

 take as freely as any food that can be given to them. Bass 

 thus fed are always in fine condition as spawners in the spring- 

 time. Crayfish are all right in fish ponds if they are properly 

 managed, but the chances are that the fish culturist will find 

 that they are not easy to manage. 



HOW TO STOCK THE FISH POND.' 



The Department is continually receiving letters of inquiry 

 in regard to "how to stock a fish pond." Many people that we 

 meet in our travels also ask the same question. Our first ad- 

 vice to all such persons would be to read our bulletins. If 

 these bulletins have been read carefully, nearly all the in- 

 formation which is asked for will be found under the various 

 topics discussed. 



No one can tell how to stock a fish pond until the conditions 

 of the pond aire understood. Even then, perhaps, no two fish 

 culturists would exactly agree upon just how it should be done. 

 The size of the pond, the water supply, and the natural food 

 supply are things of first importance. When these things are 

 understood, then the kinds of fish that would naturally do best 

 in the pond must be considered. This proposition must be 

 worked out in its relations to the kind of fish that the pond 

 owner really wants, and the kind that would really do best in 

 the pond. A great many persons who write for fish, and who 

 have not informed themselves very much upon the subject, 

 desire to stock their ponds with Black bass or Channel catfish. 

 It would make an endless chain of correspondence to under- 

 take to furnish information that would give details of why 

 certain things should be or should not be done. It takes a 

 long time to explain to certain people why they should not do 

 something that they really want to do. 



Therefore we earnestly recommend to all persons who are 

 interested in stocking their ponds with fish to read the bul- 

 letins on "Ponds," "Pond Fish," and "Pond Fish Culture." 

 After this has been done, the Department will undertake to 

 answer any questions that are in line with its work and which 

 will in any way help people along who are undertaking to raise 

 fish. However, we hope to supply most of this information in 

 the future by issuing bulletins and circulars. The fact is that 

 in the writing of these bulletins we have undertaken to answer 

 all the intelligent questions that have come to us through our 

 correspondence during the past four years. We tell a story or 

 give an experience or an observation, but these stories, expe- 



