Lydell. — Progress in Practical Fish Culture 231 



large size. If you put a lot of the small size in with them, you do not 

 get very good results. True, we like to use as large fish as we can, 

 because a large pair of bass does not take up any more room than a 

 small pair, and they produce about four times as many fry. 



Mr. Titcomb: How many years do you keep your breeding stock 

 of bass? 



Mr. Lydell : Until they die of old age ; some may be ten years old. 

 In the spring of the year, when we are sorting, if the fish look thin 

 and not in the pink of condition, we throw them into the creek. 



Mr. Adams : Would you say that a pond fifty or sixty feet in 

 diameter, a round pond, is too small for bass culture? 



Mr. Lydell: No. When we started our work we had some ponds 

 of that size, holding only about six or seven pairs of breeders. We had 

 one pond that was only twenty feet across. We had one pair of bass 

 in there and got just as good results from that one pair as if they had 

 been in a larger pond ; but we could not raise in that one pond the fry 

 that came from the pair. I may say that our ponds, this year, are 

 about 350 feet long by 130 to 140 feet wide. There is a kettle about 

 5% feet deep in all of our ponds. 



Mr. Adams: Do you have any trouble getting the fingerlings out 

 of these kettles in the fall? 



Mr. Lydell: No. We find, however, that in the summer the large 

 bass will collect in the kettle as long as they are well fed. If you see 

 them going to the shore very much you can depend upon it that they 

 are looking for something to eat. The small bass usually stay in the 

 shallow part of the ponds, whereas the larger fish hardly ever go there. 



