268 On Salt Marsh. 



rats, which delight to play in ground between two pieces 

 of water : it will be more free from Jidlers, by some called 

 soldiers, which never go over the surface of grass into 

 which they cannot penetrate, though they bore innumera- 

 ble holes, of half an inch diameter, into the soft sides of the 

 ditch, below the bank ; and if ther«e are two ditches, they 

 burrow from one to the other, and thus begin ruinous 

 breaches.* And again, there can be no attrition from the 

 tide against the edge, where there is but one ditch, and 

 that inside. Where the expense will be justified by the 

 quantity, and favourable situation, and uncommon value 

 of meadow, as in that between Newark and New York, 

 it would be preferable to have no ditch, but to carry all 

 the mud from a place distant from the site : this plan 

 was there pursued by Samuel Swartwout, esquire, the 

 active proprietor of that most valuable estate. The slui- 

 ces or flood-gates should be erected, in number and 

 size, as the quantity of water indicates a small or greater 

 vent to be requisite : respecting them, I wish only to re- 

 mark, that they should be made solid, on logs, placed 

 either end up, or on the side, across the sluice ditch, as 

 low as the tide will admit ; this to prevent muskrats from 

 undermining, from which cause the water within or with- 

 out the meadow might cause the works to blow: if ex- 

 pensive flood-gates be made, a roof would preserve them 

 for many years. 



The size of the bank on salt marsh will depend on the, 

 situation, in reference to exposure ; but it must be also 



* The fidler is an amphibious shell-fish, like a craw-fish, about 

 the same size, and so called from carrying one large claw or piri- 

 cer before it, when it runs, the claw being in about the same pro 

 portion to the dimensions of its body, as the violincello to a gen- 

 tleman of the orchestra. 



