GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 59 



building and grading operations, but will be ac- 

 cessible when wanted. Then do the work of 

 grading everj^where, bringing all levels to with- 

 in six inches of their proposed finished sur- 

 face. When all this is done restore the top soil 

 to the top, spreading it evenly and a little deeper 

 than the six inches allowed over those areas 

 which have been built up, as these will settle. 



I would advise retaining walls of stone or 

 brick invariably instead of sloping grassed ter- 

 races, both for their greater permanence and for 

 their superior merit artistically and practically. 

 A garden of the before mentioned vertical char- 

 acter may be broken, by means of such walls, 

 into levels that provide as much room for vege- 

 tables and flowers as any flat tract of the same 

 area; and at the same time the walls themselves 

 furnish space for a quantity of fruit — much more 

 of course than the single wall surrounding the 

 garden on a level site affords. 



