USEFUL PROJECTS. 



849 



for the workmen to wheel their bar- 

 rows upon, &c. made the whole cost 

 of the embankment amount to very 

 nearly 1100/. 



This wall, or bank, is entirely 

 formed of earth, a considerable part 

 of which I obtained by cutting a 

 ditch, or delft, as it is usually termed, 

 about nine feet wide, and about fif- 

 teen feet from the foot or base on 

 the land side of the wall. This 

 delft serves as a reservoir to take off 

 the rain water from the newly en- 

 closed land, which is conveyed 

 through the wall, or bank, into the 

 sea, by a sluice or gutter, which is 

 open when the tide is out; and 

 through which gutter also the salt 

 water can be let in, when necessary, 

 to fill the delft or the ditches cut 

 between the different fields, or en- 

 closures, to keep cattle apart, &c. 

 By the end of the month of Octo- 

 ber, 1801, this undertaking was 

 completed, and the wall, or bank, 

 remains firm and good, and will re- 

 ceive considerable strength and sta- 

 bility by sowing the seeds of the 

 couch grass thereon, and feeding 

 the same closely witl* sheep. Before 

 the land was thus enclosed, no use 

 could be made of it, except that 

 of grazing it occasionally with a 

 few sheep, when the tide was 

 gone off. It now begins to grow 

 quite solid, and will already bear 

 the weight of a large bullock. It 

 naturally begins to produce a sort 

 of'fine grass, which sheep, in parti- 

 cular, are very fond of, and which 

 is of a very wholesome quality, but 

 not as yet very nutritious, or fat- 

 tening, that property, however, it 

 will acquire more and more every 

 year; and it will, I doubt not, ia 

 the i»)urfce of less than twenty years, 

 be as good grazing land as any on 



Vol. XLVI. 



this level, and may by that time bg 

 converted into tillage, if required. 



In addition to the preceding state- 

 ments respecting the land gained 

 from the se.a, by Mr. J. Knapping, 

 in the island of Foulness, the fol- 

 lowing observations, by Mr. J« 

 Wise, of Rochford, may probably 

 be of some use for the perusal of 

 those concerned in embankments of 

 that nature. 



In one of my first descriptions of 

 the island in question, you will re- 

 collect that I said the greatest part 

 thereof belongs to the earl of Win- 

 chelsea; and. among the number of 

 farms in that place, that which Mr. 

 J. K. now occupies, called Eastwick 

 farm, is one of those on the pro- 

 perty of his lordship. At the expi- 

 ration of the last lease of the said 

 farm, the old tenant refused it upon 

 the terms offered to him; and among 

 those who applied to rent it, was 

 the present tenant, who voluntarily 

 proposed to enclose, embank, and 

 secure the satfings adjoining thereto, 

 as they are termed, at his own cost 

 and charge, provided that his lord- 

 ship would agree to grant him a 

 lease upon certain terms and condi- 

 tions then specified. With these 

 proposals his lordship Avas well 

 pleased, and not only granted him a 

 lease for twenty-one years, at a 

 certain rent, but likewise made the 

 like propositions to another tenant 

 who held a farm adjoining; and to 

 these propositions the other tenant 

 also acceded. Had the tenants not 

 agreed to enclose the saltings, it is 

 probable that his lordship would 

 have undertaken it at his own ex- 

 pencc. But it must appear to be 

 much more eligible, to every think- 

 ing man, for the tenant than for the 

 landlord, in such cases, to do it; be- 



3 I caiue 



