TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 141 



SECTION XXI. 



On Terracing Lands, and preparing the Sides of Hills for Cultivation. 



1 HE Chinese form the sides of their hills into terraces before 

 they bring- them into cultivation. The same practice obtains in 

 other countries. At the island of Madeira, many of the vine- 

 yards occupy terraces, of this sort, from the summit to the base 

 of mountains, where the declivities are equally abrupt as the 

 eastern side of Ladder Hill. 



Sir George Staunton, in his Account of the Embassy to China, 

 describes those terraces in the following words : — 



" Throughout this short land journey, and far from all great 

 roads, not a mile was travelled without a village ; nor a spot 

 observed, except mere rocks, or perpendicular heights, that was 

 not under cultivation. The villages were not surrounded by 

 walls, but were adorned with handsome gateways at their ex- 

 tremities. The rocky places appear to have been denuded of the 

 earth which had covered them formerly, in order to place it on 

 a surface where it might become more conveniently a medium 

 for the nutriment of plants. Where the face of the hill or moun_ 

 tain is not nearly perpendicular to the level surface of the earth, 

 the slope is converted into a number of terraces one above another, 

 each of which is supported by mounds of stone. By this manage- 

 ment it is not uncommon to see the whole face of a mountain 

 completely cultivated to the summit. These stages are not con- 

 fined to the culture of any particular vegetal)le. Pulse, grain, 

 yams, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and a variety ot 



