There are numerous creeks and brooks which are fed by springs, or have their source in spring lakes, which make excellent ice fields, with very little labor or expense. Advantage may be taken of low lands in the vicinity of such streams. Gravel forms the best bed for ice ponds, as it is free from weeds. In some of our lakes, occurring in districts abounding in gravel, the water is pure and sweet and the gravelly bed can be seen at great depths. Springs are usually numerous in such localities. The following methods of preparing dams can be employed in some situations. The depth of the pond and the force of the current of the stream are to be taken into account in fixing upon the proportions and construction of dams. Also the quantity of water usually running into the pond and the largest amount likely to be received during a season of flood. If the soil is a light loam, or a seam of gravel is near the surface, dig a trench down to a hard bottom, and on the pond side drive in a row of stout boards, breaking joints and sloping them toward the dam. Behind this paling fill in with clay rammed down. A crib formed of logs notched and bolted together, and lined or faced with plank on pond side, should be set at the rear of the sub-paling. This crib is filled with stones and clay or sand. The front is banked up with earth and covered with rip-rap. The center of the dam is provided with a sluiceway large enough to carry off flood waters, and, at the bottom, a pipe or a box well bedded in cement gives a current on the bottom which carries off sediment. It is also useful in taking off air and gases, which, arising from the bottom, form air bubbles in the ice. Some water should always pass over the upper sluiceway. Dams may be formed entirely of an embankment of earth and stone. Their base should not be less than their height, with increased thickness where pressure from a current has to be resisted. Shallow dams may be formed by driving two rows of plank across the line of the dam, and filling in the inclosed space with rammed clay. Break joints in the planking, and bolt stringers along the top edges to bind them firmly together. IN CHANGING THE COURSE OF STREAMS, cut the new channel deeper than the old one, to insure the current following it. Straightening or changing the course of a stream will often improve the topography of a farm and drain wet or marsh land. Food fish, which can readily be raised in these ponds, forms a welcome addition to the family larder. THE PURITY OF BROOKS which feed ice and fish ponds should be preserved. No filth should be dumped into them or on their banks. Stables and cesspools should not be situated where they will drain into them. Vegetable refuse and litter, which may be brought down with the current, should be caught by screens and removed from time to time, or they will accumulate in the pond and injure it. CHAPTER III. CUTTING AND STORING ICE.