ioo THE IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS. 



Levees continue without interruption along the Theiss and its principal tributaries. 

 Their entire surface is sodded, but the sod is not always proof against floods, and it is 

 found necessary to resort to other means of protection, such as fascines, planting of 

 willows, etc. These embankments are usually at some distance from the river bank, 

 generally from one-half to three-quarters of a mile where the river is 600 to 800 feet 

 in width. They are never built within less than one-quarter of a mile of the river-bank, 

 and are often widened by cut-offs. Although of recent construction they are quite 

 as important as those of the Po, and the results have been equally satisfactory. Their 

 maintenance is largely in the hands of the adjacent landowners. 



Loire. The levees on the river Loire are usually built upon one side of the stream 

 only, the opposite side being a slope or a bluff. This arrangement is occasionally varied 

 where the river crosses from one side of the valley to the other. The discharge below 

 Bee d'Allier is about 352,000 cubic feet per second in the greatest floods. This great 

 quantity of water is concentrated in a narrow bed, the width of which was not fixed 

 by a consideration of all the necessities of the case. The addition of new levees has 

 complicated the matter, and it is stated that the crowns have been raised 9 feet 

 within two hundred years. 



Few of the tributary valleys are completely embanked. At the upper end levees 

 have been built over a greater or less length. The width of the river in high water is 

 quite variable, varying from 2000 to 7000 feet. 



