Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 197 



and over five miles wide — a body of water large enough to 

 reach across the state from east to west ; a body of water with 

 a surface area five times as large as that of the Dead Sea and 

 as large as Great Salt Lake. By figuring the volume of water 

 that one acre would conserve at an average depth of three feet, 

 which would amount to 130,680 cubic feet, it is easy to esti- 

 mate the quantity of water — 157,270,400,000 cubic feet, or 

 about one-twentieth of the rainfall of the entire state for one 

 year — that it would be possible to hold in the state if ponds 

 of the average size of one acre could be conserved on each 

 forty-acre tract of land. This amount of water would just 

 about equal a rainfall of one inch over the entire state. Of 

 course there can not be an acre pond on each 40 acres or on 

 each 160 acres, yet it does not seem unreasonable to consider 

 this proportion as among the possibilities of the future de- 

 velopment of parts of the state, particularly in the central and 

 western areas, where the contour of the gradually sloping 

 land makes it possible to build ponds and reservoirs for holding 

 surface water at no great expense, and that too in a section 

 of the state where the soil is very rich and productive and 

 where the influence of permanent sheets of water would be to 

 the advantage of the country in various ways. 



If such an amount of water could be stored in ponds and 

 reservoirs it would undoubtedly, in connection with the plant- 

 ing of trees and the cultivation of the soil, do a great deal to 

 modify and regulate both flood and general water conditions. 

 The evaporation from these bodies of water would surely exert 

 a more or less beneficial influence on atmospheric and climatic 

 conditions in general, and the amount thus stored and evapo- 

 rated would equal from one-sixth to one-third of the amount 

 annually carried out of the state by the Kansas river. 



ADVANTAGES OF A FARM POND. 



These small lakes and ponds would be of value in a number of 

 ways to the farmer, who, in a new country, is not only an 

 agriculturist but frequently a horticulturist and stock raiser as 

 well. Groves of both forest and fruit-bearing trees might be 

 planted around them. These would serve various purposes, 

 and while serving as windbreaks and furnishing shade, would 

 grow into trees that would produce wood, posts, and even 

 lumber. Groves around bodies of water always attract flocks 

 of song and insect-eating birds. Many of these birds would 

 remain throughout the summer season, not only enlivening the 

 spot with their songs and bright plumage, but also rearing 

 their young and waging a perpetual warfare on the injurious 

 insects of the neighborhood. 



Again, these ponds could be made to supply the stock of the 

 farm with water ; and in many places where the water supply 

 was sufficient could be used to irrigate gardens, berry patches, 



