Dyche. — New Kansas Fish Hatchery 7 



ever, a considerable amount of food was brought in from 

 this source. The water from the river carried various 

 forms of plant and animal life, and this life, in addition 

 to what was placed in the ponds by artificial processes, 

 soon established itself and furnished more or less food 

 for the newly hatched schools of young fish. We noticed 

 that various forms of insects and their larvae and many 

 forms of small worms, mollusks and crustaceans soon 

 appeared in the waters of the new ponds. 



FISH IN THE PONDS. 



The ponds were lightly stocked in the spring of 1913 

 with the common varieties of fish such as bass, crappie, 

 bluegill sunfish, bullhead catfish and goldfish, the latter 

 being put in as a food fish for other fish. These fish, 

 their relation to each other and the manner of stocking 

 the ponds are described in the Bulletins issued by the 

 Department. Owing to the fact that the ponds were new 

 and the supply of food scant, not more than from 1/4 to 

 1/6 as many brood stock fish were placed in them as were 

 placed in the older ponds where the food supply was 

 established and the spawning grounds well known. 



THE OUTPUT OF THE NEW PONDS. 



The output of the new ponds was good, all things 

 considered. During the fall of 1913 and the spring of 

 1914, twenty-nine carloads of fish were distributed. 

 Twenty-five of the twenty-nine carloads of fish, about 

 300,000, were taken from the new hatchery ponds. These 

 twenty-nine carloads of fish, together with about twenty 

 thousand large tadpoles — the kind that develop into 

 large edible bullfrogs — were distributed in 102 of the 

 105 counties of the State of Kansas. A carload of fish 

 such as we handle usually ranges from 500 to 14,000, 

 depending upon size, age and weather conditions. We 

 distributed many fish that might be called large for dis- 

 tribution. They would range from six to eighteen inches 

 in length and would weigh from three ounces to three 

 pounds each. We believe in the distribution of good sized 



