TERRACING 



289 



There are two distinct types of terraces — the bench terrace 

 and the ridge terrace (Figs. 190 and 191). A field of bench ter- 

 races resembles a series of benches, while ridge terraces are simply 



Fig. 190.— Bench terraces. (U. S. D. A.) 



ridges of earth thrown up across the slope of a hillside. The former 

 is essentially steep-land terracing, and the latter is for moder- 

 ate slopes. 



Fig. 191.— Ridge terraces. (U. S, D. A.) 



In starting bench terraces it is best to locate the position of 

 the balks on contour lines at regular intervals, and begin by 

 throwing a furrow upslope and another downward. The balks 

 thus started should be seeded to grass and kept sodded or planted 

 to shrubs. The subsequent plowing on each belt of plowland 

 should be with a reversible hillside plow, throwing the earth down- 

 ward.* The crop rows, too, should run on the contour lines. In 

 time the balks will become steeply sloping banks fixed by the- 

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