OF SOMERSETSHIRE-«-

NORTH-EAST DISTRICT. SECT. 1. Climate, Sail, and Surface.

The ſurface of this diſtri being very irregular, and inter- mixed with lofty hills and rich fertile plains, the climate is

conſequently exceedingly varied. On the weſtern fide, in-

cluding the hundreds of Winter-Stoke and Portbury, the foil is, for the moſt part, a deep and rich mixture of clay and ſand; being originally a depoſit by the ſea, which, in antient times, flowed up a confiderable way into that part of the country.‘Theſe Moor-lands, as they are called, are at the preſent time ſubjed to freguent inundation; and ſometimes, in rainy ſeaſons, are covered with water for four or five ſucceſ- ſive months. The luxuriant herbage produced by theſe lands, when cleared from ftagnant water, is ſuch as to in- duce, in the mind of a man fond of national improvement, an ardent wiſh to ſee them completely drained.

This, I think, might be effeded in the following way: Let a fluice or dam be built at the outlet of the river Yeo or Yow, the apron of which ſhould be placed near low-water mark. It is not neceſſary to deſcribe theſe ſluices, or outlets, as they are common to moſt counties bordering on the ſea, Sufhce it to ſay, that theſe buildings are furniſhed with fold- ing doors, which ſhut at the influx of the tide, and open on its retreat. From a fſluice thus ere&ed, let the bed of the river be lowered to an inclined plane of one foot in a mile. This is ſufficient to produce a current, and it will prevent any great depoſit of ſediment. Let the bottom be contract- ed in its breadth, ſo that the water in time of floods may run with ſufficient rapidity to cleanſe it of mud. In regard to the dimenfions and expence of ſuch a main drain, the reader ſhall be informed when we come to treat of Sedgmoor.

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