bass. "The pond should be
six feet deep in the center and two 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 adjoining 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 carry 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.

There is a growing market for the young bass or fingerlings to stock
streams and ponds. The relation between the producer of stock fish
and those who expect to raise bass of a marketable size is about the
same as exists between the professional seed grower and the market
gardener. It is much better for the small farmer who has or can make
an artificial pond to buy his fingerlings from the professional
breeder, who has facilities which are too elaborate to be duplicated
on a small scale.

Fish culture, except under government auspices, is little known in
the United States.

_American Homes