IMPROVEMENT OF HILL-SIDES. 201 



torn at c, the outline, as shown by the dark line, is made 

 passable and easy to irrigate by the method applicable to 

 lands of considerable slope, (see figures 73 and 74 with 

 accompanying descriptions), or by that described in the 

 preceding paragraph. A gulley or a hollow in a moderate 

 ly sloping surface is&quot; shown by the dotted line in fig. 89. 

 This difficulty is removed by taking away the portions 

 above the dark line, and depositing them in the hollow 

 beneath it ; thus bringing the new surface into conform 

 ity with that surrounding it, and producing an easy slope. 

 In case the surface soil is thin and the subsoil poor, it 

 will be necessary to first remove the surface soil from both 

 the portion to be covered, and that to be moved, and 

 place it on one side. When the leveling is finished, the 



Fig. 90. TERRACING A HILL-SIDE. 



surface soil is returned and the subsoil covered with it as 

 before. There are frequent hill-sides, all through the 

 country, which offer no impediment to a destructive flow 

 of water down their slopes, and unsightly and incon 

 venient gulleys and wash-outs are caused by this unob 

 structed flow. The terracing of such slopes would pre 

 vent the destructive wasting, and would render them 

 amenable to easy irrigation, either by surplus rain water 

 collected from the slopes in reservoirs, or by water brought 

 to them by elevation or otherwise. Fig. 90 is intended 

 to represent such a hillside. The original profile is shown 

 by the dotted line, and the terraced outline by the dark 

 line. This work may be done almost wholly by the plow, 

 and in difficult cases partly by the plow, and partly by 

 the ordinary horse-shovel. Upon the remodelled surface 



