view raw text
FEEDING FISH BY ELECTRICITY How the Ingenious Plan of a Game Warden in Kansas Works Out The state fish hatchery at Pratt Kansas com ¬ prises ninety ponds covering nearly eighty acres of ground About a half million fish are taken from the hatchery every year and put into streams and ponds over the state Thousands are sold to the federal government to other states for stocking purposes The feed bill for this great number of fish is enormous Even then only the cheapest feed is purchased It is impossible to grow fish in so many ponds without artificial feeding Thousands of gold fish and minnows are hatched to feed the black bass tons of stale bread are fed to the cat ¬ fish and liliieKills and the men spend many hours catching bugs and grasshoppers for the crappie which also eat cracked corn Many hundreds of pounds of meat are also fed to the fish So all told the feeding expense is quite an item Or it was until W C TiKmeir fish and game warden evolved a scheme whereby he intends to cut this expense to next to nothing during the summer summerHis His idea as it is being used at present consists of simply hanging a lighted lantern over each pond at night during the summer and fall months Every ¬ one knows how light will attract insects Mr Tegmeir found that most of the insects that circle the light of the lanterns drop into the water where they fall an easy prey to the hundreds of fish one may see waiting below belowNight Night is the natural time for fish to eat and insects are their natural food The fish eat their fill and still leave an amply supply on the water for an early morning meal mealAfter After a few nights feeding by lantern light the warden noticed that the artificial feed thrown to the fish was left uneaten The fish now gather every evening to await the lighting of the lan ¬ terns For the coming season the warden plans to install a small electric light plant anil to hang electric bulbs at intervals over each pond In this way the feed bill will be reduced to next to noth ¬ ing compared witli previous seasons There should also be a better and healthier class of fish pro ¬ duced as a result of their eating more of their natural food
