Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 201 



Judging' from Mr. Bailey's experience with his garden, and 

 his own estimates of its money value, it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that such an irrigated garden patch would easily make 

 returns of from three to five hundred dollars per year, if prop- 

 erly cared for, besides furnishing an abundance of fresh vege- 

 tables and fruits for family use. Mr. Bailey says that it takes 

 some time to care for the pond and garden. Admitting that it 

 does take some time, it surely pays to have one of the best 

 vegetable gardens in the country, and that, too, in a locality 

 where little or no garden stuff can be raised without irrigation. 

 Such a garden is possible for any one who can secure a good 

 well near a piece of fertile ground that has grade sufficient to 

 admit of irrigation. 



Mr. Bailey has recently stocked his pond with crappie and 

 Bull-pout catfish, two of the best varieties of pond fish in the 

 country. They are doing well, as several schools of hundreds 

 of the young fish have been seen feeding near the shore. 



We believe that we speak advisedly when we say that the 

 products raised this year on Mr. Bailey's small irrigated gar- 

 den patch would have sold, if placed on the market, for more 

 money than was received for the crops he raised on some of 

 the near-by eighty-acre tracts of land that were farmed in the 

 usual manner, or, in fact, almost any eighty-acre farm in the 

 adjoining country that was not sown to either wheat or alfalfa. 



EVAPORATION OF RUN-OFF WATERS. 



We have already called attention to the fact that in the 

 storing of these small bodies of water the state at large would 

 derive many advantages in addition to those directly enjoyed 

 by the individual owners of the ponds. The amount of water 

 evaporated from these ponds would probably equal or exceed 

 the amount that was stored each year, and the amount that 

 would naturally be carried out of the country during flood- 

 water periods would be diminished by this amount. Heavy 

 rainstorms cause the water to flow freely over sloping grounds ; 

 this water is collected by hundreds of small rivulets that unite 

 to form creeks and rivers. These creeks and rivers carry 

 thousands of tons of rich soil that have been eroded from the 

 fields, as well as a great amount of rich fertilizing material 

 that has been leached from the soils by the water soaking 

 through them. By storing flood and storm waters in ponds ynd 

 reservoirs, not only would flood conditions be reduced, but 

 much of the soil erosion and leaching which damage the coun- 

 try beyond all reasonable calculation could be prevented. All 

 material washing into the ponds could from time to time be 

 restored to the fields by draining and cleaning the pond basins. 



