HOUSE AND GARDEN CORRESPONDENCE 
TERRACING OF GROUNDS 
As a regular subscriber to your valuable periodical from its very 
beginning pe.mit me to request you to give me some 
understanding as to the proper methods to pursue for successful 
terracing of grounds. Last year 1 had four terraces constructed, 
140 ft. long, 16 ft. high and about 16 ft. deep which gave me a 
space about 28 ft. deep on top of each terrace. At first I graded 
the tops to pitch forward one inch in 5 ft. and even though every 
sod was staked on the front slope, I had extensive washouts. 
Then I pitched the tops backwards and had a gutter in the rear of 
each terrace that directed the water to the sewer on one side. 
After that all went well and the terraces were the delight of the 
neighborhood for the past six or eight months. After a recent 
heavy rain I found to my horror that enormous land slides of the 
sod and earth about 1 ft. back of it had taken place on a part of 
each terrace and I am now seeking advice as to the best method of 
saving that which remains and budding up the old to prevent 
recurrence. 
A. E. S. (M. D.) 
The nature of the soil of which terraces are constructed has 
most to do with their stability. This you do not state, hut 
from the experience you have had I should judge it to be of a free 
or sandy nature. 
However, terraces properly constructed of the dimensions 
given should be able to stand all the rain that falls upon them, 
providing the water shed above and around them is properly 
taken care of. 
Your first method of construction giving the top levels a slight 
pitch forward was the better one: the washouts you experienced 
were no doubt caused by poor workmanship, the lines of the 
terrace being so graded as to collect the water at certain points, 
during heavy rains instead of having it spread evenly over the 
entire length of the terrace before following the slopes. 
Pitching the tops backward towards the terrace above is a fault 
in construction, as it really collects the water where it is not 
wanted, and not being able to drain away rapidly enough finds 
its way to hard-pan and starts a landslide of the newly filled 
portion. This method, however, might have given no trouble had 
there been a large enough pipe laid with open joints to take both 
surface and subsurface drainage, sufficient catch basins being 
placed at regular intervals. The pipe of course would have to be 
carefully laid with ample fall and with sufficiently large and 
graded outlet. 
We would suggest lifting the sod on the top of the terraces and 
returning to the original pitch of one in. in five ft. or less and 
grading the terraces along their length level if possible, following 
the recommendations as above suggested with pipe and basins 
in a slightly depressed gutter at base of slopes. The pipes should 
be laid on well tamped or water-tight bottoms. 
E H. 
A NEW VEGETABLE 
Mr. David Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer in charge of Foreign 
Explorations, U. S. Department of Agriculture, is introdu¬ 
cing a new vegetable to the American table that will be appreciated 
by many. Mr. Fairchild found in Japan a herbaceous represen¬ 
tative of the genus aralia, the stalks of which are edible. Our best 
known species of the aralia is Aralia spinosa , the Devil’s walking 
stick, or Hercules’ club. 
There are two varieties known in japan as “Kan Udo” and 
“Moyashi Lfdo. ” The first is raised from seed, planted out in 
rich soil in rows four feet apart and eighteen inches in the row. It 
is allowed to grow until early September when it should reach a 
height of four to five feet. It is then cut to the ground, and the 
soil mounded over the row some eighteen inches high. In forty to 
sixty days blanched shoots twelve or more inches long will he 
forced up through the soil, which are then ready for the table. 
Ehis plantation, being perennial should last, with increasing 
strength ten or more years. 
The “Moyashi Udo” is treated differently, being grown from 
roots only, which are propagated from root cuttings, and is intended 
for winter forcing. The roots are planted out in the spring and 
allowed to grow until the frost cuts down the foliage, when the 
roots are taken up, stored in dry straw in a cool place free from 
frost, until wanted for forcing. 
In the warmer portions of the United States this forcing may be 
done outdoors in a trench, but as a general rule hothouse treatment 
will be required. As an experiment I forced a dozen roots in my 
greenhouse using two ten inch pots and inverting over them 
similar sized pots filled with leaf mould. In twenty-four days the 
blanched shoots, some twelve inches long, were ready for the table. 
This is called a Japanese salad plant, but in the absence of 
knowledge as to how to prepare it for a salad, I concluded to have 
it boiled in water and served in a cream sauce on toast, the same as 
asparagus is often served. The result was a most delicate dish, 
pleasing to the palate of all who tried it. The flavor is so delicate 
that I can’t describe it. If confined to this method of preparation 
alone, it is worthy of cultivation, but undoubtedly our cosmopolitan 
American cooks will devise many ways to serve it. 
W. C. E. 
We have received the following communication from Pro¬ 
fessor Goodyear which we gladly make room for: 
“The reprint in your number for April of Mr. Edward S. 
Prior’s comments on the recent exhibition of Mediaeval Archi¬ 
tectural Refinements at Edinburgh has come to my notice. 
“My reply to Mr. Prior’s article will shortly appear and I 
hope you will find it worthy of as much space as you have given 
to that article. Meantime by publishing this letter you will 
greatly favor 
Respectfully yours, 
Wm. H. Goodyear, 
Curator of Fine Arts in the 
Brooklyn Museum.” 
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