livestock, irrigation, wildlife, or recreation. Some of these are in areas where there had been little or no fishing or other water-based recreation for miles around.

Regardless of their use, these ponds or lakes have to be well designed and constructed. A welldesigned structure can provide an adequate water supply for 25 to 50 years at an annual cost of about $0.15 to $0.25 an acre of pasture. A poorly designed structure may provide water for only one season or 1 year and can cost $4 to $8 an acre for 1 year.

In selecting a site for a manmade lake, consider the following:

(1) The water-tightness of the proposed reservoir area, suitability of the foundation material for the dam and appurtenant structures, and suitability of the soil material for construction.

(2) Depth of storage area. It must be deep enough to compensate for minor seepage loss, evaporation, and drought.

(3) The quality of the water for storage. Water for livestock or wildstorage. Water for livestock or wildlife must be free of polluting or poisoning agents.

(4) A proper balance between drainage area and storage area. Generally, a few small lakes in small drainage areas are more practical,

economical, and feasible than one lake in a large drainage area. A drainage area should be large enough to provide the minimum supply of water needed for yearround or seasonal use; it should have a good grass cover and a minimum of silt-producing areas.

(5) A properly designed or natural spillway to handle the estimated runoff from a 25-, 50-, or 100-year frequency rainfall, depending on the design frequency used.

(6) Cost-return benefits.

SCS personnel can help select a lake site to fit the needs and give technical assistance with design and construction of the structure.

Seve

even years ago the Attmore family said auf wiedersehen to military life in West Germany and purchased a 9-acre farm in the village of Llanito, near Bernalillo, New Mex.

Chuck and his wife Toni wanted something more than army-post life for their children, Suzi and John, and themselves. "Turquoise Trail," as they call their farm, dates back to 1701. Toward the east are the lofty crags of Sandia Mountain and to the west the Rio Grande winds its way through the valley. The charming adobe hacienda in which they live is over 100 years old; from 1880 to 1915 it was used as a dance hall. The opening used for a ticket window is now a fireplace. The previous owner installed windows in the 3foot-thick walls, put in a well and a windmill, leveled the farmland, and built irrigation ditches to take water from the community irrigation canal flowing through the property.

But the farm and house were only part of the dream. Another part came about last September when irrigation water flowed through 650 feet of a newly installed concrete irrigation ditch. The Attmores, as cooperators with the Sandoval Soil and Water Conservation District, have received help from the Soil Conservation Service in conserving and developing their land. They are planning a sprinkler system to irrigate the high land and an irrigation well to provide clean water free of weed seeds.

Chuck still is an Army lieutenant colonel, so his wife manages the farm with the help of her uncle, Ed Snyder. Snyder stopped by Turquoise Trail in 1968 on his way to Mexico where he planned to settle down and write fiction. He never inished his journey. He and Toni already have more than an acre in herbs, vegetables, and nuts. Some of the herbs are anise, caraway, narjoram, mint, oregano, sage, and ansy; vegetables are Chinese snoweas, yardlong beans, kohlrabi, heffini, celeriac, garlic, leeks, French carrots, corn, and chuffa

By Dick Barber

District conservationist, SCS, Bernalillo, N. Mex.

each row to allow time for soaking. If we ever get enough organic matter into our soil, it will soak up water faster."

The rest of the dream? Toni hopes to build an arts and crafts center and sell weaving, art metal work, mosaics, and ceramics. Chuck, after military retirement, plans to start an import business using the center as an outlet for items such as fine metals and gourmet supplies.

But the dream is open-ended. It is constantly being modified. There have been disappointments and plenty of sore muscles, but they are more than compensated for by the Attmores' satisfaction of making use of a small portion of the good earth.

The hacienda at Turquoise Trail enjoyed by Toni Attmore (left) and Uncle Ed Snyder.

readily soaks into the ground," Jerry Lohoefener explained. "The water benefits the crop rather than drowns it as sometimes happens on conventional terraces in this area.

The Lohoefeners reported that in the fall of 1968 two rains of about 3 inches each caused overtopping and some damage to conventional terraces. But on the flat-channel terraces the water soaked into the soil in 48 hours.

"Regular terraces stay wet longer than flat-channel terraces," says Jerry Lohoefener, "so harvesting is easier on the new terraces, and our big machinery works better on them because of the gentle front and back slopes."

Crop yields are reduced the first

few years where deep cuts are needed for the wide channels. But there is more blending of topsoil into cut areas on these terraces than in the 1. extensive cuts made in land leveling for irrigation.

The short, extra point rows that occur when crops are planted in contoured parallel rows between nonparallel terraces are fewer with flat-channel terraces. And fewer terraces are needed in a field; thus, there are fewer terrace intervals =where point rows can occur.

cross-slope orientation to avoid excessive excavation.

Custer's terraces are designed so that 90 percent of a 6-inch rain can be absorbed into the soil.

"The field farms a lot better since it was parallel terraced," Custer reported. "It's easier to operate equipment where terraces are parallel."

Custer uses a wheat and summer

terraces are well worth the extra cost," Jerry Lohoefener said. The Great Plains Conservation Program made it possible for them to go ahead with the new terraces.

Another type of terrace that is gaining favor in western Kansas is the level parallel terrace.

Sheridan County farmland has long, even slopes that make this type of terrace practical. Level parallel terraces in Kansas are limited to semiarid areas of permeable soils where holding water on the land helps to increase the ground-water supply as well as to control erosion. On less permeable soils and in areas of higher rainfall, graded parallel terraces can be used.

Parallel terraces eliminate point rows, speed up farming operations, help to control erosion, and make maximum use of rainfall.

In spring 1969, Murray Custer, a cooperator with the Sheridan County Soil Conservation District, built 3,741 feet of level parallel terraces on 63 acres. The cost was no greater than for conventional terraces.

Cuts and fills on the long, even slopes of 0.8 to 1 percent were made with a paddle wagon. Soil was elevated first to the ridge from the upper side with an elevating terracer or grader and then into the terrace channel; a motor grader was used to smooth out the terraces. The terrace channels are 35 to 40 feet wide and 300 feet apart. An occasional nonparallel terrace was needed to bring the terracing back to a

fallow rotation on his parallel terraced fields.

The terrace system was designed and laid out by the Soil Conservation Service. Custer received costsharing from the Rural Environmental Assistance Program.-JOHN C. DARK AND W. DALE YOUNKIN, district conservationists, SCS, Oberlin and Hoxie, Kans.