45 



up the top, and the bank has attained the required height. 



The solidity and strength of the bank depends an filling 

 and ramming down the blinder well, and throwing constantly 

 good clay upon good clay. On either side of the bank a 

 part is dug out five feet broad and two feet deep, which 

 ground must serve to work up the bank, 



The top of the bank must be made neat and staunch, to 

 prevent the rainwater from collecting and percolating; the 

 sides of the bank, as also those of the trench, must slope to 

 prevent erosions and promote the running off of the water. 



Now follow the side lines or limits, the middle-path, and 

 the back embankment, which must all be worked in the same 

 manner. Along the side-lines or banks you must dig navigable 

 trenches, which must in the first third of their length be 20 

 feet wide, the second third 16 feet, and the last third 12 feet 

 wide, which will give the necessary ground for the formation 

 of the banks. The mean breadth in superficies of a side-line- 

 bank is 50 feet. 



The back embankment requires on the outside a spacious fire- 

 trench, which in case of fire in the woods, must keep off the fire 

 from the grounds of the plantation; and inside, a catch-water 

 drain, for the draining of the embankment ; these two trenches 

 furnish the earth required for the raising and formation of 

 the embankment. The back embankment serves for keeping 

 off the forest water during the heavy rainy seasons, and 

 to preserve the plantation from inundation. 



Whenever a plantation suffers from one or more of the 

 sweet water banks bursting, the damage caused thereby is 



