90 IRRIGATION FARMING, 



water to run into the trench until full, then begin to 

 form the base of the embankments. As the contents 

 of the scrapers, carts, or wagons are dumped on the 

 fill, have them thoroughly sprinkled, using, if no 

 sprinkling cart is handy, a large barrel or plank box 

 with a piece of perforated pipe for a sprinkler, con- 

 trolled by a flap valve faced with leather. 



As the fill rises more water is turned into the trench, 

 so that the whole base presents the appearance of two 

 low, wide embankments, with a canal full of water 

 between them. By building with water in the center 

 prac5lically the same results are secured as with a core 

 of puddle clay, concrete, or masonry, without the seri- 

 ous disadvantage of a joint on each side of such a core, 

 which often proves fatal to the structure. By the other 

 way there are no distindl joints, since the water in the 

 trench percolates quite a distance on each side, and then 

 these half embankments are watered by sprinkler, and 

 packed by the passage of teams into a mass nearly as 

 compa(5l as that done under water. Another sugges- 

 tion to those inexperienced in such work may be made 

 in relation to the sorting of the materials. In nearly 

 every case in pra(5lice the contents of the bank of the 

 pit differ, running from fine to coarse and from porous 

 to impervious, and successful pra(5tice requires the plac- 

 ing of that which is the best adapted to retain water 

 next to the edge of the water, or on the inner half, 

 while the rocks, larger gravel and heavy substances in 

 general are ranged from the outside toward the center 

 on the outer half. It is the rule of pradlical builders 

 of earthen embankments to make the width of the base 

 line three times the hight, and this kind of construe- 



