American Fi-'^heries Society. 63 



Dr. Birge: The lower pond must be al)out 3(30 feet long 

 and the others 150 to 200 feet. 



The President: And 60 or 80 feet wide? 



Dr. Birge : Yes. 



Mr. Brown: If there is mnch spring water ^coming into the 

 bed the tem^Jerature would be too cold, would it not? 



Mr. Lvdell: Yes, if they could not keep the leniperalure up. 



Dr. Birge: The spring water tloes not affect our temper- 

 ature. It is a sort of a seepage spring, not a strong flowing 

 spring, the temperature being somewhere in the region of .50 

 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lake water offsets what little spring 

 water comes in. I should like to hear more about this matter 

 of the size of the pond ; and especially as to the margins. 



^Ir. Lydell : I haw here a view of one of our ponds. 1!M» 

 by 120 and six feet deep in the center. There is a margin of 

 probabl}' thirty feet clear around the pond and there is an 

 island here; it has a shallow nuirgin clear around ilie island 

 to the shore, and there is a big pocket in the center of the pond 

 50 by 30, and six feet deep, and that is all the deep water we 

 have in the pond, and that runs gradually to six feet. You will 

 find the fish there invariably in the winter time, and nil sum- 

 mer, unless they come out for minnows. 



Dr. Birge: The In'oad margin of your pond is a decided 

 advantage, of course. You need that for a spawning bed. If 

 you made your pond large, would you make it irregular in out- 

 line so as to give you more margin ? 



Mr. Lydell: I would. Our ponds are nearly all irregular, 

 and we get better resiilts thereby. 



Mr. Stranahan: What do you consider a proper niindicr of 

 small-mouth or big-mouth l)ass for an acre of water, everything 

 being favorable. 



Mr. Lydell: I would put into an acre, I should judge, 

 about something like 200 females and 160 males, small-mouth 

 bass. 



Q. You would not think that excessive? 



A. Xo. 



Q. How about the big-mouth bass? 



A. I am not posted on that. 



Q. What is your opinion about it? 



