140 Thirty-Third Annual Meeting 
or swamp, making them narrow enough to leave wide spaces on 
either side, with banks not less than eight feet on top and thirty- 
five feet wide at base. There is one precaution often neglected 
in building bonds and that is the foundation or bed for your 
banks. Be sure that all grass, weeds, and roots are removed 
and that the earth is well broken as this allows the dirt of the 
banks to assimilate with the foundation, leaving no seam for 
seepage which is a source of annoyance and often develops into 
a dangerous leak. At the level of water held in ponds I would 
construct drainways to take off the surplus water of heavy rain 
storms. A good plan is to closely observe during heavy rains 
the amount of water that flows over the intended pond site and 
by this means you can calculate very closely the amount of water 
it will be necessary to divert. Extended flats or swampy places 
have great advantages for pond building. One is nearly always 
assured of an abundant supply of water and such a site is less 
hable to danger from overflows than the narrow gorge of the 
hillside. Then, too, on such a site you are nearly always as- 
sured of an abundant growth of aquatic plants which adds much 
to the value of the ponds. . Where artesian water can be relied 
upon you can build on the most convenient or desirable location. 
Where it is desired to supply ponds with water by diverting 
part of a stream, although an abundance of water may be assured 
at all times, it is too often the most dangerous of all locations, 
as well as the most expensive. Such ponds are more liable to 
disaster from overflow than other locations. Either you have 
an expensive dam to build in order to divert the water or it is 
necessary to tap the stream, if a flowing one, some distance 
above your pond site and carry the water through a ditch or 
raceway, and as most streams are liable to get out of their banks 
at times this proves a source of danger. 
The shape of a pond may conform to its situation, making it 
wide in one place, narrow in another, with symmetrical curves 
that add much to its beauty without impairing its usefulness. 
As to the bottoms nothing uniform is desirable—shallows 
here and there with little islands covered with aquatic plants 
also add to the attractiveness and as these shallows may be coy- 
ered with sand and gravel they make ideal spawning grounds 
for the fish. If the ponds are for commercial purposes or the 
