382 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



cleaned of all silt and vegetable matter and filled with fresh earth. 

 Neglect of any of these small precautions may lead to a break in the 

 levee causing great damage. The bulk of the material for building 

 the embankment should be taken from outside, leaving a berm as 

 w'ide as the base of the levee, from which no material is taken, and 

 the borrow pit should be broad and shallow next to the berm and 

 increasing in depth as it recedes from the embankment. 



It is permissible, and often advisable, to take sufficient earth 

 from the land side of the levee to form a drainage ditch. This cuts 

 off the seepage and protects the land inclosed, and also strengthens 

 the levee by keeping it well drained. Where the line of levee crosses 

 low places it is a good plan to build up the berm to the general level. 

 This strengthens the embankment by reducing its height on the 

 water side. 



In constructing a levee proper allowance should be made for 

 shrinkage. Material such as is usually found shrinks when dry from 

 one-fifth to one-eighth owing to the method in which it is placed in 

 the embankment. To be on the safe side, it is well, therefore, to 

 increase the height of the levee one-fifth, leaving the width of the 

 base and width of top the same as specified for the finished work. 

 This will allow the necessary settling to take place and still leave the 

 levee as high as the established grade. 



METHOD OF DOING THE WORK. 



In building embankments the earth is usuall}^ handled in one of 

 three ways: (1) By spade and wheelbarrow; (2) team and scraper, or 

 team and dump cart ; and ( 3) some form of dredge. 



Where the embankment is small the earth can be dug with a spade 

 and thrown into place at a cost of 8 to 12 cents per cubic yard, accord- 

 ing to the price of labor and the stickiness of the soil. TMiere the 

 embankment is larger and it is necessary to leave a wide berm the 

 earth can be dug and transported in wheelbarrows at a cost ranging 

 from 12 to 20 cents, according to the price of labor and the distance the 

 material has to be conveyed. This method is expensive and should 

 be used only in places where the quantity to be handled is too small 

 to justify the outlay for some modern plant. 



Wliere the ground is firm enough to permit the use of teams and 

 wheel scrapers the earth can be handled quite rapidly at about one- 

 half the cost of wheelbarrow work, but where the ground is soft and 

 boggy, as is the case in most places along the Atlantic coast, it is 

 impracticable to use teams and scrapers. "V^^lere the yardage is large 

 enough to justify the outlay, the cheapest and most satisfactory way 

 of building an embankment is by means of a dredge of some type. 



The improvement in excavating machinery during the past ten 

 years has developed some very good dredges for this class of work. 



