The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-22
A GOLDFISH FARM
1t Is Located Near the Village
of WaldrOn, Ind.
One Place Ships as Many as
100000 Every Year.
"CROP" WORTH $4,000
How the Fish Are Bred and
Raised-Their Habits.
Scores of Hands Employed
Frogs a Side Issue.
CROP" WORTH $4,000


Waldron, Ind, is the only iron fence in
the place. 1t is near the village school |
house, and everybody tells you it was
put up by "Shoup. the fisherman It is
not different from thousands of other
iron fences in the country. but gold fish
paid for it, for the owner is what is call
ed the biggest gold fish farmer in the
world.
People generally speak of grain and
vegetables as being raised on farms, but
everybody in Waldron knows ShouD's
place as the fish farm" That is what
he calls it, and it is the title by which
it is known all over the country. for
from it every year about 100000 fish are
ScoOped up in nets to be sent by the
carload and carload to swim in all kinds
of ponds, from the ornamental lake of
the millionaire's grounds to the glass
globe which stands on the parlor table.
1t might have been called a hatchery,
but the proprietor simply drifted into
the business because he thought it more
profitable than to raise pet stock. such
as dogs and cats. Originally he sowed
and cultivated like other farmers, but
finally decided that there was too much
work for the money, and with man
named Heck branched out into pet ami
mails, then to pet fish
The farm is in two parts. the largest,
25 acre patch, being situated on a
Sloping piece of land a few miles from
Waldron. By turning up some burrows
with a ditchlng plOW so ponds have been
made ranging all the way from the lit
tie breeding ponds, which are 40 feet
long and Is feet wide, to sheets of wa
ter large enough to give a man plenty
of exercise in rowing. The ponds are
fed from springs, and the grade is
about one foot in ten the water flows
through with a rapid current, and even
in summer is almost as cold as ice. This
is g. good thing for the gold fish, as they
become harder and healthier in cold
water than when the temperature Is
higher.
1t cost the owners of the farm almost
as much to stock it as If they had gone
into raising fancy cattle. for the gold
fish they imported for breeding were the
finest specimens raised in China and
Japan, including the aristocratic tele
scope fish, which is the king of the
species. Many of the breeders which
| they secured of this variety cost over
| 500 each. In addition to the telescope
they also raise what is called the comet,
named on account of the rapid motion
and the fan-tails. The telescope has
very large eyes, which stand out from
it's head in sockets like telescope cases
and is of a reddish gold tint which is
considered a perfect color by fish breed
erS. The other species are especially no.
ted for their tails The comet has tail
whikh is about as long its body and
as delicate as lace. while the fan-tails
are really a bunch of two or three tails
can shut and open like a fan. So many
cans full of these special varieties were
brought from the Celestial hatcheries
that the importers spent over $4,000, for
many of them died on the way and 9th
ers had to be ordered in their place.
| There is plenty of work about the farm
| for the score of hands employed from
morning till night, and the shotgun is
as useful as the spade or the hoe, for
the ponds must be constantly watched to
prevent the birds from harvesting the
| crop Scarecrows are of no use on this
kind of farm, and as one of the owners
puts it, when a man asks us for job
We ask him how straight he can shoot,
for the man behind the gun is as neces-
sary as he is in establishing a new re-
public. We keep the air pretty well rid
died with bird shot, but still we can't
make it unhealthy enough to keep the
snipe the kingfisher and their brothers
and sisters from getting away with tens
of thousands of fish every year 1t is a
fact that the man behind the gun is busy
almost from sunrise to sunset, and a con-
slant fusillade is going on, for this is
one of the best shooting grounds in the
United States The birds are so bold that
they are continually lowering over the
ponds in focks waiting their chance to
dart down for a dinner, and many of them
are shot within sixty sevent-five feet
of the gunner. The tool sheds and house
containing the storage watts have loaded
shotguns where they can be picked up in
a regular arsenal of these weapons.
But the birds form only one enemy. The
banks of the ponds are patrolled daily by
hands with spade and shovel to fill up
the holes made by the crawfish and musk
rat. Sometimes in a single night dozen
or more rats will bore into the earth to
l such an extent that the ponds would be
drained in a few hours If they were not
watched. In addition to the course of
birds which is frequently served at din
ner, dish of muskrat Is sometimes add
ed, as traps are set all around the ponds
for them Millions of eggs we'll as
young fish yearly are stung to death by
beetles and water wasps and devils darr-
ing needles or eaten by turtles and the
fish themselves. for goldfish are cannibals
| of the worst kind, and three weeks -fter
one is Matched it will begin to devour its
brothers and sisters which have not yet
| appeared but are in the eggs deposited
on the grass and leaves put around the
edges of the spawning ponds. Then II is
necessary to drain the pond containing
the young fish and place them in Others.
In fact they pass through a series of
ponds until finally they emerge il what
might be called the harvest field. Here
they remain from the time they are three
| or four months old until they are ripe
and ready to be scoooped ou- and semi to
market When they reach the pond they
are usually two or three inches II length,
but live in 1t for three or four years. as
the average gold fish does not get its
full growth and color in less than three
years The banks of the ripening pond
are higher than the others. in order to
keep the wind from blowing too hard over
the water Catalpa trees are also plant
ed around the pond to assist in keeping
off the wind as well to shade the
edges when the sun is too hot The bic
leaves of the water lily are also good fol
the same purpose, for although gold fish
require plenty of sunlight to produce the
rich gold and red tints. if they get toe
much of it they are liable to become toe
dark and their value is lessened.
Some of the ripening ponds contain
beds of lilies which are nearly an acre
across It is regular fish city some