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



and orchards. The shady groves about the ponds where song 

 birds live and where the wild flowers bloom, might be made a 

 source of much pleasure for family gatherings and neighbor- 

 hood picnics. If the pond or lake were an acre or more in 

 size, there might be an ice house near the shore where a supply 

 of ice sufficient to last through the summer season could be 

 put up at a small expense. A boat could be kept on the water, 

 and a small building might be constructed in a grove near the 

 shore, where the boat and such articles as fishing tackle, bath- 

 ing suits, skates, etc., could be housed for protection and safe- 

 keeping. Such an arrangement of things would add much to 

 the interest, enjoyment and value of everyday life on the farm 

 and help materially to solve the problem that we are all trying 

 to work out. 



With such a system of ponds and with the streams cleaned, 

 improved and put in good condition for sanitary, industrial 

 and economic purposes, the fish products of the state might 

 become of great value, and the benefits realized from the con- 

 servation of water could hardly be measured in dollars and 

 cents. 



HIGH PRICE OF MEATS AND THE VALUE OF FISH FLESH AS A 

 FOOD PRODUCT. 



Why should we be concerned about water conservation and 

 food products? Because the present high prices that all the 

 staple kinds of meat products command make it necessary for 

 the great mass of the people to look not only for a cheaper 

 meat food, but for more economic methods of producing it than 

 have heretofore been devised. Even now men who are working 

 for a wage of from $1.35 to $2 per day and who have families 

 to support, can scarce afford to eat beef, pork or mutton once 

 a day. It takes the best of grass and hay and the best of 

 grains to produce good meats, and as the amount of land 

 capable of producing the best of food materials is limited, and 

 as the number of people is constantly increasing, there is little 

 hope that good meat products will ever be much, if any, 

 cheaper. Many people, and we might say the mass of the peo- 

 ple, must have something that will in a measure take the place 

 of, or at least answer in part as a substitute for, high-priced 

 beef, pork and mutton. The possibility and value of fish as a 

 good and wholesome food product for the people of Kansas 

 should receive more serious consideration than has heretofore 

 been given to it. If each family in the state could have fish 

 on an average of once a week, it would not only be a most pleas- 

 ing and satisfactory change in the regular bill of fare, but it 

 would be an item of large economic importance. As there are 

 over 300,000 families in the state, it would mean that over 

 300,000 messes of fish would be consumed each week. The 

 value of the fish thus consumed, allowing an average of twenty- 



