AGRICCLTURE OP LEW CHEW. 27 



desirable ends, especially in a rolling country, a great quantity of grading is required, besides 

 very deep culture ; and here both of these have been done. 



Wherever a stream is found, whether large or small, also whenever springs issue from the 

 sides of hills, (if not excessively steep,) the system of grading begins. If the ravine be very 

 narrow, the sides near the bottom are cut down perpendicularly for several feet, and the 

 bottom levelled from side to side ; the level becoming wider as the sides recede from each other. 

 It is formed into steps, by slight narrow banks running across, capped with grass. The height 

 of these embankments is always small, rendering the length of the step or plot longer or shorter 

 as the descent of the valley is greater or smaller. A plot of only six feet square is not neglected 

 or despised. Where there is not a ravine, but an open, spreading valley, the sides are not thus 

 cut, but the levelling is effected by running the embankments across it in a curved line, cor- 

 responding with the ground, the arch being always up the valley. If the stream be large 

 enough to furnish side supplies, open ditches or conduits are carried along the sides, and the 

 water is allowed to descend from plot to plot, the embankments of which are adapted to the 

 surface, being arched outward, or from the side, where an elevation projects into the valley ; and 

 inward, or toward the side, where a depression occurs on its face. By this means, no dams, as 

 such, are made, (liable to be washed away;) but gentle descents of a foot or so are made, from 

 step to step, without any risk of injury, and requiring only the slightest restraints or banks. 

 These are all covered with grass, and serve as divisions of property, and also as path-ways. A 

 long and wide valley with a considerable stream in it, thus laid out, presents a pretty and 

 interesting sight, with its numerous curved green borders and plots, from a few feet in size to an 

 acre or more. When of the latter size, they are subdivided by straight lines, for convenience, 

 or as land-marks. By this simple arrangement, great floods may be diffused over level land, 

 and fall from grade to grade so gently as to pass off without detriment to the feeble embank- 

 ments, and without injury to the soil by washings. This is the grading for irrigated lands. 



That for rolling uplands is not unlike it, but is not brought to such exactness, as a perfect 

 water-level is not so much needed; this, however, is approximated, where too much labor is not 

 required. A gentle slope often occurs in practice. Hill-sides are thus cut into terraces, vary- 

 ing in width from a few feet to many yards ; and also in length, according to the inclination or 

 shape of the land. The same small margin of grass is found here on the embankments, which 

 are from one to several feet in depth, ere another terrace is reached. In this way, when the 

 hills are conical, and the terraces are arched outward, they look like giant circular steps from 

 base to summit ; and where a valley is regular and steep, they are arched inward, and appear 

 as the steps of an immense amphitheatre. The terraces are subdivided, as the irrigated plots 

 are, or by stones or slight mounds of earth, grassed over, as division-marks. They are bedded 

 up gently towards the centre, and all around the margin there is a slight depression or furrow, 

 by which superfluous rain-water is carried to some point, to be let down to the next level. But, 

 before allowing it to escape, it has to pass over a hole, or reservoir, in the ground, generally 

 partially filled with potato-vines, pea-haulm, and the like. Here any alluvial soil is arrested 

 as sediment, to assist in making compost or manure, the water alone (muddy, it is true) 

 escaping. Before escaping finally, however, into the stream or river, it has to traverse a much 

 larger reservoir for the same purpose. 



The most beautiful samples of each of Ihese kinds of grading, together with the most perfect 

 culture, and the best lands seen on the journey, occurred between Nugah and Tanegah, and 

 around the latter constituting the most unique and picturesque artificial scenery. This is a 



