259 
if allowed to get headway would soon wash away and destroy any 
imperfect work. 
Planting. 
To cover the soil as quickly as possible with a dense and per- 
manent arborescent cover is the object to be attained. Where the 
soil has not been so far eroded that ploughing could be done, it 
might be best for the first reason to sow field peas, or other crops 
that will readily grow and make a cover. This may be cut for 
green fodder, leaving a high stubble, and tree seed can be sown 
broadcast with the fodder crop in the early summer, or over the 
stubble after the crop is cut in the late summer and fall. The 
cheapest and most readily germinating tree seed should be looked 
for and the quantity used per acre should be lavish to secure a 
dense stand from the first 
Where the ground is too much cut up and too uneven to permit 
of ploughing, recourse must be had to sowing of seed in plats, or 
planting of seedlings or cuttings by hand. This is naturally much 
more expensive and therefore should be done with great care and 
foresight. Plats may be made by loosening the soil with a hoe or 
spade, and sowing the seed into these seed beds covering the seed 
only slightly. The plats should be 3 or 4 feet apart to make suf- 
ficiently rapid cover. The success of this method is, however, very 
questionable, as not only the germinating of the seed under the 
prevailing conditions is precarious, but rains are apt to wash out 
the seed or young seedlings. The surer method, however, will be 
found in planting seedlings or cuttings. Seedlings are not only 
expensive but also more precarious to handle, hence for the bulk 
of the plantation such kinds as can be readily obtained and pro- 
pagated by cuttings are used, and if desired a sufficient number of 
seedlings of better kinds can be added to increase the timber value 
of the plantation. 
The first and principal object being to break the force of the sur- 
face waters, the arrangement in setting out the plants should be as 
nearly as possible in horizontal and parallel rows along the brow 
of the hill, following the contours. To get a full cover as soon as 
possible the plants should be set not farther apart than 3 to 4 feet 
and even less, making from 5,000 to 7,000 per acre. If this is 
found too expensive, or for some reason impracticable to be done 
at once, the work may be reduced and divided into several seasons ; 
the rows then may be made farther apart,, say from 6 to 16 feet, 
according to the slope, and the plants in the row 2 feet, when the 
number will be one-half, or less. 
Whatever is done in such a work of recovering lost ground, let 
this fact never be forgotten, that it is better to do a small part well 
than a large part indifferently which usually means lost labour. 
Grasses and similar vegetation prevent erosion 
AND WASHING OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS. 
On gentle slopes a good turf of perennial pasture grasses, es- 
pecially those with creeping rootstocks, prevents erosion, or washing, 
