98 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



dam ; but the work should be of the most solid charac- 

 ter. A waste channel for overflow should be made on 

 the top large enough to carry off any possible flood, 

 and the ends of the dam should be carried up with solid 

 masonry as high as may ever be needed to prevent the 

 cutting out of the ends by floods. A large dam 

 should be constructed, regardless of expense, to secure 

 safety in every diredlion, and the small details of con- 

 strudlion are very often the most important parts of 

 the work. 



Storage Ponds. — These are classified as those 

 artificial embankments that are made on the flat sur- 

 face of the ground, and are used mostly in connedlion 

 with a pumping plant. In staking out, it will be best 

 for the convenience of graders to drive stakes on the 

 outer and inner base-lines of the proposed bank. If 

 the land on which the reservoir is to be built be of 

 fresh sod it will be necessary to plow up or remove all 

 of the sod from the ground on which the embankments 

 are to be construcfled, otherwise there would remain a 

 seam through which the water would escape from the 

 reservoir, as sod is not a suitable material upon which 

 to build embankments, nor should it be used when 

 building them up to their required hights. When the 

 outlines of the embankments are established and the 

 sod removed, then plow within lines of the proposed 

 embankments, and with a scraper draw the earth from 

 the inside of the reservoir, with which to form the 

 walls. These should be not less than five feet in 

 hight, measuring on the outside, and very wide or 

 thick at the ground level. The walls should be so 

 carried up that the slope from the inside will be very 



