INCLINED SURFACES. 137 



cases where the land in river bottoms has been injured by 

 the washing of freshets, and a bare surface of sand or 

 gravel has been left, upon which grass cannot now be 

 grown because of the absence of soil. This last case, 

 however, would more properly come under another head, 

 and will be treated in the proper place hereafter. 



In preparing the surface of an irrigated meadow, the 

 ground should be plowed without open or back furrows. 

 There may be exceptions to this rule, where the ground 

 is to be laid out in plots for successive irrigation, or where 

 the surface is a dead level. In the former case, the 

 ground may be plowed in broad flat lands, each land 

 forming one plot, of which the open furrow will be the 

 center, and the feeder for the distributing furrows. In 

 the latter case the ground will be plowed in narrower 

 lands, with a rise from side to center of not less than 6 

 inches to 100 feet ; the back furrow or the ridge will be 

 the place for the distributing canal, and the open furrow 

 will be the drain. This will in fact be an extended ap- 

 plication of the system of beds heretofore described as 

 applied to gardens. The best implement for this work is 

 the swivel plow, with which the furrows may be all laid 

 the same way over the whole field. The plowing is to be 

 carefully and evenly done, and as deeply as possible. No 

 " balks " must be made, the furrows must be straight, 

 and no trash, weeds, or coarse manure, are to be plowed 

 under, that in rotting would leave depressions of the sur- 

 face. Two or three plowed crops, or a Summer fallow, 

 might be first taken, so that the surface may be made 

 smooth and level. If there are hollows and knolls, the 

 latter must be leveled and the former filled up. This can 

 be done, in part, with the harrow, and in part with the 

 scraper. The scraper for this purpose may be a plank, at 

 the lower end of which a strip of wide band-iron or saw- 

 plate is fastened. A pair of plow handles are fixed behind, 

 with which it is guided, and a pole or a chain fastened to 



