AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



wall about five feet high. It was necessary for 

 us to husband the good soil carefully, as we had 

 little opportunity to get extra earth for grading; 

 so, first of all, we dug away all the good soil 

 along the course the wall was to take, and for 

 some six feet back of it, throwing the whole in 

 piles up the hill, and as the wall progressed, 

 rocks were piled in behind it and levelled up to 

 within a foot or so of the top. The soil was 

 then pulled in over these rocks, and that part of 

 our work was done. Of course, an opening, two 

 in fact, had to be made in the wall, and steps 

 built therein of flat rocks. This work cleared 

 out of our way the greater part of the rocks that 

 troubled us, and the balance were used in making 

 still other flights of steps in the eight terraces 

 that were gradually constructed. We took care 

 to save all the good earth in the spaces the steps 

 were to occupy. Some of the gravel, too, be- 

 neath it was exchanged for good earth in the 

 paths at the head of each terrace. We were 

 aided much in this work by the fact that at either 

 end of the space occupied by the terraces ledges 

 of slate rock cropped out, from which we were 

 able to split great slabs of stone from four to 

 nine inches thick, to be used for steps. In the 



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