130 Till rill-First Annual Meeting 



FISH CULTURE ON THE FARM. 



BY J. J. STRANAHAN. 



It is safe to presume that the meml)ers of the society will 

 think that this subject has been selected because the writer is 

 ion laz\- lo prepare a paper along more scientific lines and if 

 tliis he the case, the presumi)tion will be well founded, altliough 

 much of interest and value may be said on fish culture on the 

 farm, a suljject that has been too long neglected by this associ- 

 ation, the United States and state fish commissions and Ijy 

 fislicidturists generally. 



^^'ith our public waters rapidly l)ecoming depleted through 

 excessive fishing, in spite of the good work being done by the 

 liatcheries, where are Ave to look for tlie fish to fill the very 

 ra])idly growing demand, if not through water farming? Of 

 course the output of ocean, lake and stream may be held in statu 

 (pio or ])ossil)ly increased to some extent by reasonable restrictive 

 laws and l>y tlie work of fishculturists, but with the rapid 

 increase of our population and the further growth of consump- 

 tion tlirough improved transportation facilities, the limit has 

 doubtless already been reached and any permanent increase of 

 per capita supply must come through covering what is now 

 uii|ii-o(hictive land with water, thus adding to the output of fish 

 beyond what natural waters would make it, and making many 

 fins grow where none at all grew before. 



There are vast areas in all of the states, prol)al)ly equal in 

 the aggregate to that of the Great I^akes, which now produce 

 virtually noihing and much of which might be made to furnish 

 al)iiii(lanee of fish, with comparatively little expense. 



Not only would the conversion of this waste land into water 

 areas increase and equalize the rainfall to some extent, but it 

 wonld measiiral)ly decrease the liability to disastrous floods and 

 equalize the flow of streams. l)ut this is only incidental to my 

 text and not really germane to the subject. 



Fishculture on the farm is, nine times out of ten, a failure, 

 and "■enerallv so because of three main causes, none of which, 



