Brown. — A Pond Cultural Station in S. C. 31 



fish as is possible in pond culture. These features are, 

 for the most part, closely allied, inasmuch as the proper 

 grading of the pond bottoms and the consequent varying 

 depths of water enter largely into proper control of con- 

 ditions that tend to successful pond culture. 



Since from the marshy, uneven character of the natu- 

 ral bottom it would be impossible to seine or draw and 

 clean the ponds, it became necessary to remove the 

 stumps, logs, decayed vegetation and loose mud, and sub- 

 stitute foreign material to make bottoms sufficiently com- 

 pact to support the weight of an attendant while work- 

 ing in the ponds. Accordingly, more than two thousand 

 stumps were blown out with dynamite and removed from 

 the site by means of a log skidder. The mud and debris 

 was removed to a sufficient depth and a layer of coarse 

 sand from a nearby hill was spread over the bottoms from 

 one to three feet in depth. This made an excellent bot- 

 tom, even beyond the most sanguine expectations. The 

 outlet box was located near one corner of each pond and 

 the bottom so graded as to afford varying depths of 

 water from about six inches at the opposite corner to 

 about five feet at the outlet. This method of construct- 

 ing pond bottoms enables the parent fish to select any 

 desired depth of water for nest building. It also affords 

 an early spring growth of aquatic vegetation and stimu- 

 lates early breeding of animalculae by supplying warmer 

 water and more suitable breeding grounds in the shal- 

 lower waters of the pond than are to be found in the 

 deeper parts. Thus when the fry are ready to take food, 

 they find an abundant supply ready for their consump- 

 tion, in a locality where there is a minimum danger of 

 their becoming prey of the adult fish, as they, being more 

 agile, may elude their pursuers in the thick vegetation. 

 This method of constructing ponds is also advantageous 

 in drawing them for collecting the residue of fingerlings, 

 or for transferring the adults and cleaning the ponds, as 

 there is always sufficient depth of water near the edge 

 to support the fish and the inclination of the bottom 



