154 THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY 



feet around the edge ; the bottom should be of natural sand ; 

 water plants should be growing in profusion, particularly 

 such aquatic plants as the Daphnia, Bosmina, and the 

 Corix, to furnish food for the young bass. A good size for 

 a breeding pond is 100 X 100 feet." For spawning, artificial 

 nest frames are built in rectangular form. They are made 

 two feet square without bottoms. On two adjoining sides 

 these frames are four inches high and on the other two ad- 

 joining sides sixteen inches high. These frames are made 

 because the bass needs a barrier behind which the spawning 

 may be done and which will protect the nest when made. 

 For raising the fish to a size large enough for food, ponds can 

 be of any convenient size. In order to keep the water in 

 healthful condition the pond must be fed by a flowing brook 

 with some provision to prevent the water being disturbed 

 by freshets. This can usually be arranged by a sluice to 

 cany off the surplus water during heavy rains. Black bass 

 raised in shallow ponds will take the fly all summer, so that 

 considerable may be made from fishing privileges. 



In the absence of minnows, which are the food of the 

 bass, they must be fed on fresh liver cut in threads like an 

 angle worm to tempt the fish. Even then the liver diet 

 must be varied by feeding minnows from September until 

 the bass goes into winter quarters. In no other way can 

 fertile eggs be assured for the spring hatching. Minnows 

 left in the pond all winter will breed and so furnish fry on 

 which the young bass can feed the next summer." 



What has been said refers particularly to the small- 

 mouthed black bass. The conditions are substantially the 

 same for the large-mouthed bass (which grows to a much 

 larger size), except that the bottom may be made of Spanish 

 moss imbedded in cement. 



