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Show E OUR SOIL OUR STRENGTH If your overnight storage ponds lose more than two or three Inches, In-ches, of water in a 12-hour period, per-iod, you are wasting water. This loss can be greatly reduced by the proper application of benton-lte. benton-lte. One pond in Beryl used to lose more than 12 Inches of water wa-ter during the night and after sealing, the loss was reduced to two inches. Other ponds have shown similar results. I When applying bentonlte to an irrigation pond for sealing, the following steps must be followed: fol-lowed: 1. Have the soil in the pond examined ex-amined by a soils scientist to determine de-termine the amount of bentonlte that Is needed. (This varies from about 'a pound of powdered bentonlte ben-tonlte per square foot to about two pounds per square foot). If lumpy bentonlte is used more is needed to do the Job. 2. Apply the bentonlte evenly even-ly on the inside of the pond. 3. Disk it thoroughly to a depth ol lour to six inches. 4. Sprinkle the pond with water, wa-ter, unless it is damp enough for packing. 5. Pac kthe pond with a sheep's foot roller or if It is not available, availa-ble, use a rubber tired tractor. (The more the pond is packed the better the sealing Job). The Iron County SoU Conservation District owns a sheeps foot roller rol-ler which Is available through application to one of the supervisors. super-visors. 6. Where the water comes into the pond. It should be covered with rocks or concrete to keep from washing the bentonlte away. 7. Protect from livestock or they will break through the seal. Livestock ponds can be sealed, but the blanket of bentonlte must be between eight and 10 Inches thick, Instead of four to six Inches'. , |