On Salt Marsh. . 251 



muskrat. Our ditches are cut perpendicular to the dyke, 

 and approach it to within about four perches. 4th. Rise 

 and fall of the tide, floodgates, &c. ? Ordinary tides rise 

 and fall about six feet, to which depth, if necessary, we 

 could drain the marshes. Our sluices are of the simplest 

 construction, very substantial, and seldom require atten- 

 tion or repair. They are thus constructed ; heavy sills 

 are laid down, a foot below low water mark ; a strong 

 frame of timber is mortised into the sills, and supported 

 at top by braces ; wings faced with plank, and the whole 

 frame is filled with soft mud, to prevent its leaking ; the 

 race way is about four feet square, and planked, and both 

 ends of the floor of the race way are spiled with plank to 

 prevent its blowing, and the gate opens and shuts with 

 the fall and rise of the tide. We have avoided sluicing 

 natural creeks, but have stopped them off* with timber and 

 plank, and carried the dyke over them, placing our slui- 

 ces as near them as the nature of the ground would allow. 

 Sluices put into creeks are never safe, are very expensive, 

 liable to settle, to blow, and be forced from their posi- 

 tion. 5th. Cost of the banks and ditches ? The banks 

 were constructed under our own personal inspection, by 

 day and week labour, at one dollar and fifty cents per day, 

 and the business was new to us. At this rate, they cost 

 about ten dollars per perch. We could make them now 

 for seven. They are not exposed to uncommon assaults 

 from surges, storms, &x. The labour of dyking and 

 ditching was performed exclusively by Irishmen, who 

 used the American ditching spade, and a three-pronged 

 fork. Wheelbarrows were much used, when the distance 

 was too great to throw the sod with a fork. Ditching- 



