82 THE SMALL-MOUTHED BASS 



spawning or after the natural spawning has begun. Under 

 the strictest surveillance the opportunity is too seldom 

 presented or known for practical operations in this direction. 

 In any event, however, we would lose instead of gain by 

 the artificial handling of bass eggs, owing to the relatively 

 high percentage of natural results in protected ponds and 

 the relatively low percentage of results by artificial treat- 

 ment of adhesive eggs." 



As the result of these several attempts artificial fer- 

 tilization was rightly abandoned as impracticable. 

 Pond Culture. 



This is the method now universally employed for hatch- 

 ing bass and consists in the construction of a pond which 

 shall as nearly as possible resemble a natural lake, with 

 plenty of vegetation and with water about six feet deep, 

 and a surrounding edge of shallow water from ten to twenty 

 feet in width. This strip or terrace, as it is termed, carries 

 the artificial nests used by the bass when spawning. 



These nests are merely cubical boxes, open at the top 

 and at one side, having the bottom filled with coarse gravel, 

 which helps to keep the box in an upright position, and en- 

 ables the bass to spawn. The open side faces the deep water, 

 so that in reality the bass, when spawning, are shielded on 

 three sides. 



The pond should have a bottom of good soil, intermingled 

 with sand, so as to support a rich growth of water plants. 



Three hundred fish may be kept for breeding purposes in 

 a pond which has an acre of surface. They are fed on live 

 minnows, preferably; and in the fall of the year, when min- 

 nows become scarce, they may be fed with liver, cut into 

 small strips; but the live minnow forms the best diet. In 

 fact, it is probable that the continual feeding on liver during 

 the fall season renders the fish incapable of supporting the 

 hibernation of the winter and the subsequent spawning of 

 the following spring. 



