220 SOILS. 



within a short time, so as not even to afford drinking water to 

 pasturing cattle in summer. Thus for half a century the un- 

 solved problem of the " correction of the waters of the Jura 

 mountains " was before the Swiss and French governments ; 

 and the great and costly public work involving re-forestation, 

 deflection of torrents and filling-in of deep ravines and gullies, 

 is not even yet nearly completed. In Spain, which in the time 

 of the Roman occupation was largely a forest country with 

 abundant rainfall, the same results are seen, notably in the 

 South, in the wide, and mostly dry, sandy beds of streams 

 once running deep and clear ; and in the scarred hill-and moun- 

 tain-sides, and scant vegetation of low shrubs (" chaparral ") 

 that replaces the once abundant tree growth, e. g., in Old and 

 New Castile. Unfortunately the lessons taught by the bitter 

 experience of the old world seem to require actual repetition 

 in the new, before means of prevention are even thought of. 



Prevention of Injury to Cultivated Lands from excessive 

 Runoff. The fundamental remedy for the injurious effects of 

 excessive runoff from the land surface is, of course, to facilitate 

 its absorption into the soil to the utmost extent possible, by 

 deep tillage; or in cases where this is undesirable (as when in 

 rainy climates excessive leaching of the land is feared), to so 

 direct and control the surface drainage that its flow shall no- 

 where be so rapid as to carry with it any large amounts of 

 earth, or to wash out the furrows. To this end its fall must be 

 diminished by " circling," i. e., plowing nearly at right angles 

 to the slope instead of up-and-down, and on steep slopes especi- 

 ally also by maintaining open furrows or ditches having a 

 gentle fall only, into which the water can shed and flow off 

 quietly in case the furrows, left in plowing, prove insufficient 

 to retain and shed gradually the water they cannot hold per- 

 manently. The early adoption of this simple expedient would 

 have wholly prevented the enormous waste of fine agricultural 

 lands referred to above. 



The underdraining of lands liable to washing is a costly but 

 highly effective means of preventing denudation; and the lay- 

 ing of unclerdrains in gullies already formed, to prevent farther 

 deepening, is among the most obvious means of arresting 

 farther damage. The beneficial effects of underdrainage in 

 conserving moisture will be discussed farther on. 



