68 American Fisheries Society 



VEGETATION IN AND AROUND THE PONDS. 



This acre pond had in previous years been thoroughly 

 stocked with water plants, including various kinds of so- 

 called "mosses," especially Chara and one kind of lily 

 (Castalia odorata). There are several patches of these 

 lilies and we estimated that about one-fifteenth of the sur- 

 face of the lake was covered with lily pads. The north 

 and east banks above the water line are covered with 

 swamp grass, with a few rushes along the water line. 

 Higher upon the bank small willows are growing and 

 some of them hang over the water. A number of large 

 Cottonwood trees stand on the south and west shores of 

 the pond. They furnish some shade, but we do not con- 

 sider them of any particular value in connection with 

 fish production. There are other ponds that do quite 

 as well and even better, that have no trees around them. 

 We do not advise having trees right up against a pond. 

 A grove of trees should be a little distance from a pond 

 so as to reduce the number of leaves that would fall and 

 blow into the water. The leaves are of no value to the 

 fish and frequently color the water and in some instances 

 have been known to damage the water, when the pond 

 was low, to the extent that it rendered it unfit for fish 

 to live in. 



STOCKING THE POND. 



Three years ago in the spring of 1910, this pond was 

 stocked with about 10,000 yearling fish, most of which 

 had been raised in it. All of the larger fish were removed, 

 together with 20,000 yearlings. The fish that were allowed 

 to remain were black bass, crappie, blue-gill sunfish, 

 common green sunfish, bull-head catfish, a few hickory 

 shad and German carp and about 300 goldfish. Many of 

 them were small and only fit for food for the larger bass. 

 In the fall of 1910, a few months after the above stock- 

 ing, about a thousand more small fish of various kinds 

 were added to this stock, including 200 black bass that 

 were from four to six inches long. These bass had been 

 hatched in the spring and were unusually large and fine 



