B6 On reclaiming Marsh Land. 



build and fortify his bank accordingly ; but if free fron> 

 those liabilities, and his marsh high and of a firm blue mud 

 stratum, in that case, I should suppose a bank of twelve 

 feet base by six feet in height, would be sufficient : but I 

 would observe, that I have never seen a bank too large. 

 Let the bank be of what size the owner may choose, I have 

 always considered that the base should be double the 

 width to the height, and as to the sides or slope, they 

 should be at or about an angle of fifty degrees, and the 

 breadth at the top of the bank about one sixth of the 

 base. To wheel mud on a miry marsh, it is necessary 

 the men should have boards to lay upon the mud, but 

 in wheeling their barrows to the top of the bank (which 

 would be an elevation of six feet,) they must have plank 

 of not less than thirty feet long, though the longer they 

 are the better, provided the men can handle them, and 

 they should be not less than four inches thick. To sup- 

 port the plank in the middle, they should have several 

 light posts with holes mortised in them, through which a 

 rail or pole is temporarily inserted, so as to bear it with the 

 weight of mud passing over, and also to prevent it from 

 swagging; these posts will be removed, and the wheel- 

 ing or gang plank, as it is called, must be removed seve- 

 ral times before the labourers complete a single rood. 



SLUICE. 



The bank being finished, a suitable place must be se- 

 lected for laying a sluice, which should be several rods 

 distant from the creek or river, into which it is to dis- 

 charge the water from the marsh. In the preparation for 

 the intended bed of the sluice, the water course should 

 be begun from the margin of the river or creek, and its 

 depth continued at about the ordinary low water mark, 

 until the bed of the sluice is cleared, when the digging 



