PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1921, 63 
COLD SPRINGS (GA.) STATION. 
(CHARLES W. BULLOCK, Superintendent. ] 
Five spawning and two rearing ponds were completed during the 
year at this station, and it was hoped the additional facilities pro- 
vided would permit of a material increase in output. As at other 
points in the Southern States, the weather during the bass spawning 
season was not propitious. There was a heavy spawning during an 
unusually warm period in March, permitting of the shipment of more 
than 100,000 advanced fry in April, whereas the distribution does not 
usually begin before May 1. A sudden cold spell in April caused a 
drop of 20 degrees in the water temperature. This resulted in de- 
stroying what had appeared to be bright prospects for a remarkably 
successful season. During the cold weather many of the schools 
disappeared, and the fish hatched later were small and their rate of 
growth slow. The few stragglers surviving from the schools de- 
stroyed preyed freely on the weaker fish. Perhaps not of the least 
importance in contributing to the disappointing results was the al- 
most total disappearance from the ponds of the cladocerans, cope- 
pods, and chironomids that had been observed in abundance during 
the early spring. While the numbers of bass produced for distribu- 
tion represent a very fair average for the station, in view of the 
promising outlook in the early spring the results are disappointing. 
At the Harris Ponds substation catfish and bluegills are reared in 
the same ponds. In certain respects the bluegills can be more satis- 
factorily handled than the bass, as they take readily to artificial 
feeding. It is never possible to anticipate results in the propagation 
of catfish. In certain seasons the output will be ample for all needs, 
while the next season, under apparently identical conditions, only 
small numbers of young are produced. During the past season only 
5,000 fingerlings were obtained from 60 adults. In the course of the 
spring one of the ponds were stocked with 50 adult catfish in addition 
to the bluegills. Later in the season a heavy mortality occurred as a 
result of a parasitic affection. 
Attempts to propagate crappie at this station have not been par- 
ticularly successful. Two ponds devoted to the species produced 
1,750 fingerlings. Two hundred of these were reserved for brood 
fish, but as they are very shy and nervous, refusing to take artificial 
food, it is doubted if they will be of much value in that connection. 
The station water supply is lacking in lime or other mineral sub- 
stance, excepting for a trace of silica. The presence of lime in solu- 
tion has always been considered desirable in pond fish culture. By 
way of experiment the water supply to one of the ponds was ar- 
ranged to pass over a cask of lime, and the results are being noted. 
The output of the station for the fiscal year consisted of 212,555 
largemouth black bass, 4,120 catfish, 1,550 crappie, 61,350 sunfish, 
and 100 warmouth bass. Approximately 145,000 of the bass were 
fry, while the others were all of the fingerling size. 
EDENTON (N. C.) STATION. 
[Epw. M. Haynzs, Superintendent. ] 
Five ponds at this station are devoted to the production of the 
pond fishes, and their output for the year consisted of 23,085 large- 
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