Anwricaii FlsJicrici: Sucicty 77 



one average size, the l)etter. One other thing I find helps in 

 pond culture and that is to infuse new hlood as it were into your 

 breeding ponds. That is, each year introduce a fair per cent of 

 wild fish into your ponds, discarding all breeders that have a 

 rundown appearance. The number of breeding fish will vary 

 with climatic conditions. In this climate — southwest Texas — I 

 say that sixty good breeders to the acre of water surface seems 

 about the right number. Where the climate is cooler and ponds 

 deep, this number might be doubled to advantage. 



We have two seasons for the distribution of young fish from 

 the San Marcos Station, the distribution of l)laek l)ass commenc- 

 ing in the s])ring al)out the middle of April, and extending to 

 July or August, and as soon as the fall sets in, giving cool weath- 

 er, we distribute all l)ass left over, our craj^pie, rock bass, Ijream 

 and other fish. ^lost of the bass shipped from this station run 

 from two inches early in the season to six and eight inches in the 

 later part of the season. Fish of this size being quite acceptable 

 to applicants, they get fewer in number, but with a positive cer- 

 tainty of satisfactory results in stock waters planted. 



Jn collecting young fish from our bret'ding ponds for slii])- 

 ment we use a seine made of l)obbinet, rigged in the same man- 

 ner as the large drag seines are for commercial fisheries. The 

 young fish, seined from the breeding ponds, are assorted and 

 placed in shipping pools. These pools are constructed of brick 

 and cement, six l)y sixteen inches and two feet deep, provided 

 with valve iidets, and six inch outlets, and can l)e emptied and 

 scoured in a few minutes. From these pools the messenger takes 

 them, carrying of the smaller size, two hundred and fifty to the 

 can, or of the large size, fifty. During transportation the mes- 

 senger seldom changes water, Init uses ice to keep the water tem- 

 perature down to sixty degrees, and under tlu'se conditions even 

 in our summer climate seldom loses a tish, and the general re])ort 

 of applicants is, that fish are received in good order, and later 

 that results are satisfactory. We su])])1y with tlu' station force 

 over four hundred a])plicants each yeai'. and ai-tificial laki's and 

 ponds in the state are on the increase, creating the need of anoth- 

 er station in Texas. 



I have brought some photographs of my station in connection 

 with this article, showing our grounds and pond system, and will 



