TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 143 



broken earth. In various parts of a farm, and near paths and 

 roads, large earthen vessels are buried to the edge, in the ground, 

 for the {iccouimodation of the labourer or passenger who may 

 have occasion to use tiiem. In small retiring houses, built also 

 upon the brink of roads, and in the neighbourhood of villages, 

 reservoirs are constructed of compact materials to prevent the 

 absorption of whatever they receive, and straw is carefully thrown 

 over the surface from time to time to stop the evaporation. And 

 such a value is set upon the principal ingredient for manure, 

 that the oldest and most helpless persons are not deemed wholly 

 useless to the family by which they are supported." 



The Chinese mode of terracing is, however, attended with great 

 labour. It seems to me that the object of retaining the rains 

 and moisture on the sides of sloping grounds, might be nearly 

 as well attained by easier means. If land have only a moderate 

 descent,* it may be ploughed uninterruptedly from the lower to 

 the higher parts ; and if double furrows, or channels, were made 

 on lei-el lines, at distances of 12 to 24 feet, (varying accord- 

 ing to the declivity) the water might be intercepted as elFectually 

 as by the more expensive mode of terracing. The steeper the 

 side of the hill, the nearer to each other should these furrows 

 be made. 



-'^ On very steep hills, I would advise, instead of terraces, that 

 belts of the sward (5 or 6 feet in breadth) should be left at the 

 time of preparing them for cultivation. These belts might be 

 accurately marked out by a mason's level, in a level direction, 

 leaving spaces between them 12 to 16 feet broad : which alone 

 should be ploughed or trenched. 



By this method of preparation, not only might all the rain 



* In St. Helena, tliere are above 2O0O acres, that niiglit be as easily ploughed as any 

 lands in England. 



