Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 193 



not adapted to our climate and conditions. I believe that all of 

 you will agree with me that the fish I have enumerated, and 

 which I am raising successfully, are good enough for even an 

 epicure's table, and, in addition, they are gamey enough to 

 satisfy the desires of the most ardent angler. 



This article would be too long were I to go into my personal 

 ideas regarding fish culture. As a member of the legislature, I 

 have supported all the measures for the development of a Fish 

 Hatchery, which to-day makes it possible to restock the 

 streams and ponds of Kansas. 



Every man, it is said, is more or less cranky on some subject, 

 and one of my subjects is irrigation and fish culture. It has 

 been said that "the man who causes two blades of grass to 

 grow where but one grew before is a benefactor of his race." 

 Agreed. But I also believe that the man is a greater bene- 

 factor, and is worthy of consideration, who stocks the streams 

 and ponds of Kansas with good native varieties of fish, and 

 thus makes it possible to add millions of pounds of good, whole- 

 some fresh fish food to our now too limited diet, especially on 

 the farm. 



To sum up my experience, I would like to say that I have 

 never made an investment that has given me more pleasure and 

 profit than my fish ponds. The investment was a small one. 

 During the fall and winter, when the teams on the farm were 

 not very busy and labor was plentiful and cheap, the ponds 

 were built without any outlay worth speaking of. 



If there is anything I enjoy more than another it is to take 

 the grandchildren and go and sit on the banks of the ponds, 

 watch the cork bobble, and pull out the fish. Under such cir- 

 cumstances one can easily imagine that time has rolled back- 

 ward and that once more he is a barefooted boy with cheeks of 

 tan, fishing in the old swimming hole and having the real time 

 of his life. 



A visit to the Hatchery will convince the most skeptical that 

 the state, under the direction of Professor Dyche, is able to 

 take care of all who apply for fish for ponds and the restocking 

 of the streams. The fish raised at the Hatchery belong to all 

 the people of Kansas. I hope that the farmers especially will 

 build ponds and will avail themselves of the opportunity of 

 getting these fish to properly stock them. If they will do it I 

 am sure that later on they will become as enthusiastic as I am 

 over the results. They will find that it will pay not only from 

 the standpoint of pleasure and profit and good living and the 

 entertainment of friends, but also from the standpoint of in- 

 teresting the boys in farm life and making the old farm home, 

 with its surroundings, more satisfactory, more interesting, 

 and the best place on earth to live. 

 —13 



