56 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



The excavation of a small reservoir to collect water 

 from sources wholly apart from a natural watercourse is 

 a simpler proposition and can easily be done with farm 

 experience and appliances, and on this work some sug- 

 gestions may be offered. 



First: Location is governed by local factors, but it 

 should be at sufficient elevation to deliver the water freely 

 at whatever point is involved in its use. 



Second: Its area will depend upon the prospective 

 water supply. If this is ample, do not make the pond too 

 small. A circular reservoir with an average depth of four 

 feet through a circular space forty feet in diameter, will 

 hold water enough to cover about two-thirds of an acre 

 two inches deep. This will amount to a good soaking of 

 a good-sized farm garden, and is probably as small a dirt 

 reservoir as it will be worth while to make. For smaller 

 storage wooden or galvanized-iron tanks can well be used. 



Third: In shape the circle is easiest to mark out and 

 construct symmetrically and incloses the greatest possible 

 area with the least length of bank, but on a small figure 

 it may be a little easier to handle teams and scrapers on 

 an oval. 



Fourth: A fairly retentive loam free from rock and 

 rubbish, upon a clay subsoil, favors the easiest and cheap- 

 est construction of a dirt reservoir, because with careful 

 construction it can be made water-tight without using 

 other materials. Clay is disposed to leak through cracking 

 and sand will neither hold shape nor water. Clay and 

 sand mixed forms an ideal material. 



Fifth : The earth surface under both the pond and the 

 banks must be thoroughly cleaned of all sods and trash 

 and the whole area plowed and harrowed well to make 

 it as fine as possible. The dirt should not be dumped on 

 the old surface to start the bank. When the whole is 

 plowed and harrowed the scraper can be started, moving 

 the dirt from the center to the banks, and each scraper 

 load should be spread and lumps broken with a shovel at 



