KECLAMATION OF TIDE LANDS. 



379 



LOCATION OF DIKES. 



In locating a dike there are many things to be considered: 

 First. The direction must be such that with the shortest hne of 

 dike the greatest possible area may be inclosed. An examination 

 of this principle shows that the larger the area to be inclosed the less 

 it will cost per acre to do the work. The following diagram illustrates 

 this fact: • 



80 rods. 



80 rods. 



160 rods. 



40 A. 



80 



A. 



040 



■160 



In case of a level tract to be 



inclosed on all sides: 



40 acres would require 320 



rods of embankment, or 



8 rods per acre of area. 



80 acres would require 480 



rods of embankment, or 



6 rods per acre of area. 



160 acres would require 640 



rods of embankment, or 



4 rods per acre of area. 



640 acres would require 1,280 



rods of embankment, or 



2 rods per acre of area. 



Marsh lands are frequently so situated that they do not require 

 embankments on all sides; yet this general rule holds good — the 

 larger the area the less the cost per acre to inclose it. This shows 

 the importance of cooperation in this work. Where the marsh is 

 held in small tracts, as is the case in many of the New England and 

 Middle Atlantic States, it can be embanked at a much less cost per 

 acre if the owners organize into districts as they do in some parts of 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There they have dike laws for 

 reclaiming and protecting tide marshes. The principle of these laws 

 is very much like those of the drainage laws in some of our States, 

 and under their operation much work has been done that could not 

 have been accomplished by individual effort. Under the dike laws 

 whole townships of the best agricultural lands have been created 

 from worthless bogs and morasses. 



Second. The dikes should run parallel with the coast or stream, or 

 else at right angles to it, and should have a wide berm or foreshore 

 between the toe of the slope and the water's edge. The action of 

 the waves is less destructive when they strike the bank at right 

 angles than when they strike it oblicjuely, and they also do less dam- 

 age where there is a wide berm in front of the dike. Experience 

 shows that dikes which lie directly on the brink of the shore are 

 much mc^e liable to injury than those which lie farther in and have 



