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on the side of the current, getting its water supply from the overflow from 
the stream. When the pond is filled the overflow can be stopped. 
A good arrangement of four ponds on a spring stream is to make a 
pond of about two or three acres, to be used as a holding pond for mature 
fish. This pond should be about 10 feet deep in the kettle with a gradual 
slope to the banks, where the water may be from 1 to 2 feet deep. 
From this pond the water should fall anywhere from 3 to 6 feet into 
a pond of less than half an acre in size. This pond should be shallow along 
the banks, with a kettle of from 6 to 8 feet in depth. The water in this 
pond will get good aeration because of the fall and will be of a higher tem- 
perature than the large pond above. While the upper pond will be suited 
to mature fish, the second pond will be useful for holding fish from the 
time they are yearlings until they are 2 years old. 
The nursery pond, the third in line, need not be So large or so deep as 
the second pond. The fall coming into this pond may be anywhere from 1 
foot to 4 feet. Some fall is necessary to the successful control of the pond 
and for aerating the water. Into this pond the fry are put as soon as they 
are taken from the breeding pond and should be kept there until the next 
season, when they should be taken out to make room for the new fry. 
The breeding pond should be about an acre in size and should be built 
somewhere on the side of the other ponds, from which its water supply 
should come. The arrangement of this pond must depend upon the topo- 
graphy of the land. It should be enough below the upper ponds so that 
water may be carried into it through a 6-inch pipe. This pipe should be 
covered at the supply and the discharge ends with suitable copper screens. 
Another pipe should be put into this pond, leading either into the lower 
nursery pond or into the stream below. With these two pipes properly: 
arranged the pond may be filled or emptied at will. 
For a private estate the following pond arrangement should prove 
satisfactory: For the breeding pond, about 25 pairs of bass will be suffi- 
cient to produce between 200,000 and 300,000 fry. Not all of this number 
will be captured in the breeding ponds. After they have been transferred 
to the nursery pond many will be lost during the first year. These little 
fellows are great cannibals, and when they meet smaller brothers or sisters 
they do not hesitate to make a meal of them. Even after they become 
yearlings they will prey upon each other. There will be plenty of yearling 
fry left however, to stock the 2-year-olds’ pond, and more than enough from 
this pond to supply the large pond where mature fish are held. 
In the latitude of Northern Illinois the black bass begin to spawn 
about the middle of May and continue until late in July. The small- 
mouthed bass likes to deposit her eggs on a gravel bed, but the large- 
mouthed variety appears to prefer a good clay bottom among the grasses 
and weeds near shore. 
When spawning time arrives the bass hunt about in pairs for suitable 
places to make nests. Where a gravel heap is chosen the fish use their 
caudal fins to form the nests and polish the pebbles. When all is ready 
the female swims over the nest and deposits her eggs; the male, following 
closely behind, deposits his milt over the spawn. 
No fish shows more unselfish devotion to the hatching of its eggs 
than does the bass. In the watchfulness kept over its nest and the courage 
displayed in protecting it from intruders the bass is peculiar. During the 
hatching period, which requires from one to two weeks, according to the 
temperature, one parent bass hovers over the nest, fanning the water gently 
with its fins, while its mate circulates about in the vicinity of the nest, 
ready to make war on any intruder. : 
As soon as the fry are hatched they rise in a school. During the short 
period when they rise and fall back on the nest daily, the parent bass 
circle about, whipping back any truant disposed to break away from the 
family school. In a week, all things favorable, the school breaks and the 
young fish scatter along the shore in the shallow water among the weeds 
and grasses, where they find microscopic life upon which they live. When 
—A05G oi 
