82 American Fisheries Society 



NATURAL SUPPLY OF PLANT LIFE. 



The supply of water for the hatchery comes from the 

 Ninnescah River which is only a creek in size. This 

 river is well supplied with vegetable matter. The water 

 brought many forms of life, both animal and vegetable, 

 into the ponds and it was soon observed that various 

 kinds of water plants had started to grow along the 

 shores. Several kinds of water plants, including 

 "mosses"* and lilies, were planted in the ponds. All this 

 vegetation has done well, and at the present time there is 

 a very fair start of water plants in most of the ponds. 



FISH IN NEW PONDS. 



So far as we have been able to observe, the fish also 

 have done well. Many schools of black-bass, crappie, 

 blue-gills and bull-head catfish have been seen in the 

 ponds. We estimated some of the bunches that were ob- 

 served feeding along the shore in July and August at 

 from five to twenty thousand young fish. These young 

 fish have also made a fine growth. On August 23 young 

 black-bass, from three to six inches in length, were 

 seined from one of the new ponds. They were large 

 enough to take full-sized grass-hoppers and to be caught 

 on a hook baited with a grass-hopper. 



NUMBER OF FISH AND WATER CONDITIONS. 



Just how many fish we have, cannot, of course, be esti- 

 mated with much certainty at the present time. How- 

 ever, we have reason to believe that if the fish could be 

 moved early this fall, that there would be anywhere from 

 fifty to one hundred car loads, estimating from five to ten 

 thousand to the car load, depending on size and kind of 

 fish. We had planned to begin the distribution of these 

 fish about August 1st. However, water conditions in 

 Kansas have been most unusual this summer. It is one 

 of the dryest years, taking the entire state into consid- 



*The chara, the water milfoil, and most water plants with finely di- 

 vided leaves are usually, though incorrectly, called "moss." 



