172 American Fisheries Society 



be a benefit to all the people of Kansas. We tried to explain 

 that after such a hatchery had once been built and equipped 

 it would not cost much more to operate and maintain it 

 than it would to run a much inferior one. We tried to stand 

 for the right kind of economy, the kind that would bring 

 practical results. We took the ground that the streams of 

 Kansas could he stocked from the hatchery and made valua- 

 ble as fish producers, that pond fish culture could be made 

 valuable for the farmers, that fanners should be encouraged 

 to build ponds, that each farmer who was enterprising- 

 enough to build a pond should receive fish in the shortest 

 possible time from the state fish hatchery, and that we pro- 

 posed to take them to him -free of cost. We expect to de- 

 liver them from the state fish car when possible, otherwise 

 send them by express in ten-gallon milk cans, with an at- 

 tendant, to the farmers' nearest station. 



Another point that we tried to explain was that instead 

 of taking the farmer little fish, fry, fingerlings, etc., we 

 would take him fish two years old, fish old and large enough 

 to spawn. We expect to keep the fish in the hatchery until 

 they are large enough to spawn. If we do not have ponds 

 and water enough to do this we will get more land and 

 build more ponds. When a farmer completes a pond and 

 wants fish, he wants them right away. We want to be ready 

 to supply him with from ten to fifty pairs of spawners, in 

 proportion to the size of his pond. Such a delivery of good, 

 large, plump fish will please the farmer. He is excited 

 about the fish business and has been ever since he began to 

 build his pond, and wants to get to work right away. We 

 want to help him just at the right time and in the right way. 



We have tried delivering little fish and big fish to far- 

 mers with ponds. Little fish make them look serious and 

 ask a lot of questions. Big fish make them smile and look 

 happy. The delivery of fish two or three years old puts 

 them in the fish business immediately, and they are quick to 

 see that it will be only a short time until they can expect to 



