They are used to supply many parts of the West and South and there is much greater demand for them than the Commissions can meet. Not that there is a lack of fish, for millions are left to waste because the Commissions can not distribute them rapidly enough to save them. If large storage ponds could be established to collect and keep the fish during the flood season, so that all the time might be spent in collecting fish during the overflow, and they could be sent out later, the amount of fish saved would be increased many fold.
The fish thus saved are being made to serve another useful purpose. Pearl buttons are made from the shells of mussels or fresh-water clams. This business, which is now worth $5,000,000, can not last many years unless some means of increasing the supply of mussels can be devised.
Now these men, who are always studying new plans, have thought of a wonderful way in which to let the fish help in carrying on this work. They obtain the mussel eggs, and when they are hatched place them in the pools with the fish from the overflowed lands. The tiny mussel larvæ attach themselves to the fish and are carried to the rivers and ponds with the fish. Soon they are ready to drop to the bottom and find food for themselves.
In this way 25,000,000 mussels were carried last year to streams where mussels are known to thrive. If these mussel-bearing fish can be obtained by farmers having private fish ponds, the ponds can be drained each year and the mussels gathered, thus adding considerably to the owner's income, and also keeping up the pearl button industry, in addition to the food supply which he gains from the fish.
Enough has been said to show clearly how desirable and how possible it is to conserve and increase our fish supplies. With the coöperation of all who waste the fish at present, and those who might aid in stocking the streams, we could add greatly to the food supply of the nation at a less cost than in any other way.
REFERENCES
Grazing Lands. Report National Conservation Commission.
Grazing on the Public Lands. (Jastro.) Report Governor's Conference.
The Grazing Lands and Public Forests of Arizona. (Heard.) Report Governor's Conference.
Grazing Problems in the Southwest and How to Meet Them. Bulletin, Dept. of Agriculture, 5c.