Dyche. — One Year's Work at Kansas Hatchery 83 



eration, that has been experienced, perhaps the dryest, 

 since the historic dry year of 1860. Many good Kansas 

 streams are very low, and some of the smaller ones have 

 dried up except for certain pools of water. The large 

 rivers are very much below normal for this season of the 

 year. Many of the ponds not well supplied with water 

 have gone dry. The temperature during a part of July 

 and the month of August surpassed the 100 mark nearly 

 every day for many days in succession. Under such cir- 

 cumstances it has been necessary for us to hold the young 

 fish. Every bass fish culturist knows what great losses 

 occur when young black-bass are held in ponds where 

 there is not a good growth of vegetation and where they 

 cannot be sorted and specially cared for. It will not be 

 possible to deliver fish until water conditions have im- 

 proved. There will be a great demand for fish when the 

 ponds and streams regain their normal supply of water. 



FISH RAISED ON NATURAL FOOD. 



The fish raised in the hatchery this season, raised 

 themselves, so to speak. The spawners were simply 

 placed in the ponds and allowed to remain there. They 

 were given no food other than what they found in the 

 water. The Department has been so busy with build- 

 ings, grounds and ofl^ice business that the fish culture 

 work seemed but a side issue. We hope to be able in the 

 near future to give more attention to the fish business 

 and make it the chief business of the Department. 



However, we do not expect to feed fish at the hatchery 

 except on a small scale and when experiments are being 

 performed. We hope to so stock the ponds with plants, 

 animals and fish that there will be a natural supply of 

 food foi* both old and young fish. The fish that eat veg- 

 etable matter and waste, so to speak, such as carp, gold- 

 fish and hickory shad, will be made to supply food to a 

 very large extent for the game fishes. In other words 

 we desire to convert the natural plant and animal wastes 

 of a pond into fish food and food for fish. To illustrate, 

 both goldfish and hickory shad convert great quantities 



