Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 199 



five cents, or about one-half of its actual value, for the mess 

 of fish consumed by each family each week, would amount to 

 $75,000 for one week, and 52 times $75,000 or $3,900,000 for 

 one year. If fish were eaten twice a week, the value of the 

 amount consumed would be $7,800,000 per year. And if the 

 fish were placed at their true value the amount consumed 

 would be worth more than ten million dollars. The above fig- 

 ures are only suggestive, but furnish some idea of what might 

 be done in localities where fish can be raised. 



WITH STREAMS IMPROVED AND PONDS CONSTRUCTED. 



Is it not possible, in connection with the future development 

 of Kansas, to bring about results in many parts of the state 

 as e-reat as those indicated, by improving our natural streams 

 and ponds for fish-culture purposes, and more especially by the 

 building of artificial ponds and reservoirs adapted for the rear- 

 ing of food fishes? At the present time our rivers, streams 

 and creeks are much abused. Little or no care is given to them, 

 and it is a most lamentable fact that many of them are used 

 for sewage purposes. At present all kinds of filth is either 

 thrown into the streams or allowed unheeded to run into them. 



ROBBING OUR OWN FIELDS. 



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

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

 almost nothing to the soil. The time will come when it will 

 be necessary to put fertilizer on what are now known as the 

 most productive soils ; 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 farm lands; 

 the time will come when every stream in the state will be badly 

 needed for water supply and fish-culture purposes; the time 

 will come when it will be unlawful to pollute any public stream 

 with sewage and garbage ; the time will come, and ought to be 

 here now, when the wastage, sewage and garbage that now go 

 into 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, should and will 

 be improved and made to become a source of pleasure and 

 great profit. 



A FISH POND ON EVERY FARM. 



In order to give some idea of the value of a small pond to a 

 farmer, especially in central and western Kansas, we desire to 

 give a brief account of one described on page 32 of the bulletin 

 before mentioned as "The Sam Bailey Pond." Mr. Samuel 

 Bailey lives on the uplands north of the valley of the Ninne- 

 scah, one-half mile northeast of the State Fish Hatchery 

 grounds. He has built a pond almost on a hilltop, and its sole 



