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a bed of common moss of three inches, or of peat-moss of theflow kind, of six inches in thickness, spread upon the banks,only to the thickness of six or eight inches. Stones of thesekinds may likewise be formed into a sort of causeway, or belaid in strong clay, and their surfaces jointed with lime ora strong cement mortar, which has the property of quicklyhardening, and of enduring the operation of the air and tides,which alternately act upon it.

There may likewise be cases in which it may be the mostadvantageous practice to have the sides next the sea or riversprotected by coverings of wood only, in which case, larchmay be the most proper, or such others as are durable,having their surfaces covered over with pitch and some sortof sharp sand. And old sail-cloth, or oil-cloth pitched andcoated over with sand in the same manner, or even thinplates of metals, have been suggested as useful in particularinstances.

In a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in May, 1841, the Hon. Mr. Stewart gave a very interestingaccount of the application of peat to the purpose of building“sea walls.” The author described some embankmentsconstructed with it on the estates of his brother the Earl ofGalway, to reclaim various portions of land, to the amountof many hundred acres, and stated that it had been found toanswer extremely well, for several reasons, the most prominentof which were, that the blocks of peat, when well rammeddown, grew together, thus forming a complete “ puddle”wall ; and that from its spongy nature it was not liable tocrack in dry weather like clay, when any portion of it wasin water, as moisture was in that case drawn up to allparts of it.

It is evident that great quantities of land might in manysituations be obtained from the sea and large rivers, by theforming of proper embankments. Some notion of this mayindeed be formed by a careful examination of such lands aslie along their shores and banks, by ascertaining the distancesto which the waters ebb out at common tides, as it is foundby experience, that at least one-half of the extent of land,thus uncovered in any particular situation, may be gained;hence, throughout the whole kingdom, it could hardly beestimated at a less quantity than from two to three millionsof acres, but it is probably much more than even the lastquantity, if it were capable of being ascertained with anydegree of accuracy or correctness.

Importance of embankments .—When the extent and thevalue of the lands which are capable of being gained by thesemeans are fully considered, there can be no doubt of theirbeing of the greatest consequence to the interests of thecountry. It has been well remarked by a late writer on thissubject, that there are numerous places in the kingdom wherevast improvements may be effected by the judicious applica-tion of these means. Vast tracts of land of the best kindmay not only be gained from the sea, but likewise from thelarge rivers and lakes, besides the beneficial consequenceswhich must necessarily arise from the prevention of suchrivers from overflowing their banks, and injuring the levelgrounds in their vicinity by such inundations. In somecases, it is supposed, that by raising a bank of only three orfour feet in height, at a very small expense, some thousandsof acres might be prevented from being overflown, the cropsfrom being carried away, and much other mischief frombeing produced. In other instances, the forming of verytrifling banks might be the means of obtaining much extentof country, which in its present state is of but very littlevalue ; yet so indifferent are people in general about improve-ments of this description, that though immense tracts areyear after year overflown, and the most dreadful devastations

committed, they have recourse to no means of P r ® rO us0nay, even though the sea itself, says the writer, as i eve r/them from their inaction, presents to their view t>vl ea ps betwenty-four hours, large tracts that might by propey v j ta tioD 9made of very great value, yet these repeated ® gS esSare disregarded, and no attempts are made to r^ n .what might, in many cases, be so easily and so sB^tageously acquired. It is certainly extraord®a^ g j on gunaccountable that the acquiring of distant P® ^ goshould be eagerly sought after, and consideregreat importance to us as a nation, when the ^ jtof land in our own country by the reclamati®^ ^achfrom the waters, must be in every point of view,

shoe

ild,

more valuable.

The acquisition of additional territory attherefore, be more attended to, and have more par*

bestowed upon it than has hitherto been the case* rS onS

ticular situations, indeed, a few active and enterprisehave b eeI1have taken advantage of the opportunities which , ^ge,presented ; as in the counties of York, Lincoln, y® g {, e eiiand others, many hundred thousands of acres -,j e rabl egained by embankments. In Norfolk , too, a 00 n eigb'extent of land has been gained in this way. jjke"'' se

bourhood of Chester, the River Dee Company ha ve

gained several thousands of acres from the sea,since been divided into different beautiful farms,of which pay in rent more than 2,000 pounds P ^ ( j e g ree ’And in Holland the whole country has, in a g rebeen obtained by these means. , -polo® 6 °*

It is stated by Mr. Beatson, in the second t j a rg®

Communications to the Board of Agriculture, a j g wi®

sums have been expended in some places by indivi tQ thea view of guarding against inundations, but,, oW iy place®’embankments they have made being inj u< ^’ clOU ^jot al"' a ^' 3and as badly constructed, the desired effect has p-q ie shi re ’been produced, particularly in the northern parts o jjiiioon the banks of the river Mersey, where works o thehave been thrown up at a great expense, wine b ^ c0 t‘manner of their being placed, may, in some caS ’ 0( j.fining the course of the river, do more harm than g ^ c ointhe appearance of that part of the country, so far t0 lii®judge from the cursory view he had of it, it see ^ ee p eff eC ',that the inundations from that river might have rtually prevented at a much easier rate, if a P. 1 !? ; u( ]ge<l aDhad been taken at first; but from a certain 1 ^ eD ts armistaken tenaciousness of property, the embaie jnconstructed so close upon the sides of the ri ver > ’y ar d9 ° ve ,yplaces, it is confined to a space not more than f J ff ;th oP JOwing to this, and to an aqueduct across the nve ’ j, a ve b a ’one arch instead of two, which it ought at leas j n for® e jthe water sometimes, in great floods, rises, he " j eV elj a ?.to the height of about 20 feet above its orc ‘ ,ria ^ ue nt a® joverflows the embankments, although now, by “ , ar ds, .tions, they are about that height. Instead ot /from eathese embankments been 80 or a 100 yards dis a . ce8) oPother, and the river widened in the narrowes j iav , e bethird or one-fourth of their present height wou - er i» a ’quite sufficient. They would have been muc i ^ ui° a

and less liable to damage by the floods ; a grea coD sti'U ctl C 0also would have been saved, not only in the fir® q'jje sP abut in keeping the banks afterwards in repai • ^ j^usof ground between the embankments and p tUe or meadf'leftwould have produced the richest pastuie, parti®^ 3 j jnby its frequent manurings with the fertilizing . an gupon it, when flooded by the swelling of t ® ..

those places, if any, that are unfit for pasture a( j va jit8eor other aquatics might have been planted to g 1