528 Additions and Correétions

in which the fide ebbs and flows, the work will be fomewhat more difficult, in pro- portion to the depth of the water and the rapidity of the current. If itis propofed to exclude the fea from fome expofed fituation, either at the mouth of a river, or in a bay or inlet uncovered every tide, the work will be the moft dificult and moft ex. penfive of all, in proportion to its expofure to prevailing winds and to the depth of water to be refitted. Each of thefe fituations require a diferent mode of manage- ment. Embanking againft the fea, if at any confiderable difiance within bigh- water-mark, is not only the moft tedious, but the mof difficult of all; for if the materials are not very good, and the work is not properly performed, the force of the water at every flowing of the tide will foon undo all that has been done, efpe- cially if the foil is of a fandy nature, as it often is in fuch fituations, If it is a firong clay, as is fometimes the cafe in marfhy places, there will be the lefs rifk of its being wafhed away. In fandy fituations it has by fome. been recommended to lay bundles of ftraw or reeds well fafiened down, or any other impediment, to pre- vent the foil being carried away by the ebbing tide. Where a fufficient quantity of good firong turf cannot be had, then expedients may be tried; but where fuch turf is 1o be got, as in moft marfhy fituations, and where the embankment required is not to exceed the height of four or five feet, it is beft to finifh the flope with good turf as expeditioufly as poflible as the embankment proceeds; that is, fuppofing a length of thirty, forty, or fifty fect, or yards, of it can be completed in a tide, it is better to finith that length to its intended height, than. to trace out or begin a greater extent than can be finifhed before the tide returns, by which a great deal of the foil might be carried away, and much of the work demolifhed, which is not fo likely to be the cafe when the flope is finifhed. Turf, containing the roots of bent or rufhes, is very good for this purpofe. The firft thing, however, to be doue in an embankment of this fort is, to{take out the intended line of it, marking the breadth at the bafe, alfothe width of the excavation, or trench, to be made in the infide, from which moft of the materials that compofe the bank are to be taken; this trench alfoferves asa drain to keep dry the grounds within. At different parts of it fhould be trunks, or fluices, to fhut of themfelves againfl any external water, and toopen, when the tide ebbs, to let out any water from within. Its width muft ke proportioned to the quantity of materials required from it for the embankment— eight, ten, or fifteen feet wide, and three or four feet deep, leaving a berme, or fpace between the edge of the trench and inner bottom of theembankment. If the foil is trong, one foot or eighteen inches will be fufficient for this derme; if it is loofe or fandy it will require at leaft three or four feet*.”

* Beatfon in Communications to the Board of Agriculture, Vol. II.

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