AND GAINING LAND FROM THE SEA. 379 



the country was, that land, thus taken from the sea, would not 

 grow corn under thirty years at least after their inclosure. But as 

 no experiment had been made, by which tin's fact could be clearly 

 ascertained, as soon as I had shut out the sea from a part of it, 

 about six yar.is square were immediately dug, and sown with horse- 

 beans and oats, which, though the summer proved very dry, and 

 consequently unfavourable, produced of each a fair return of sound 

 good corn ; and the last harvest the same spot being sown with 

 wheat, yielded an excellent crop. 1 he next spring I mean to try 

 it with barley and turnips. My first inclosed lands in this parish 

 have produced two succeeding crops of fine oats, and are now grow- 

 ing a very promising breadth of rape for seed. 



" It may here be remarked, that the lower oozy parts of the new 

 inclosure, on which no vegetable ever grew before, begin to be 

 coated with various grasses; and as the saline parts die away in 

 other spots, for want of their natural moisture, fresh grasses replace 

 them, so that the whole is now nearly covered with grazing plants 

 of good quality, amongst which appear the different cloz-ers, trefoil, 

 and rye-grass^ &c. Hence 1 conclude, but contrary to the general 

 opinion, that though all these grew artificially from seed sown, it 

 does not follow of necessity that they cannot be produced without. 

 I think that the natural operation of the sun and air, upon certain 

 soils will alone effect it ; and my experience in lands taken from the 

 sea confirms very strongly this opinion." 



The construction of canals, reservoirs, locks, piers and quays, are 

 dependent upon the same principles, extended to a more scientific 

 survey. In this view the art of embankment, observes Dr. Young, 

 is a branch of architecture entirely dependent on hvdrostatical and 

 hydraulic principles. In Holland, and in some parts of Germany, 

 this art is indispensable to the existence of large tracts of country ; 

 and even in this island, it has been of extensive utility, in gaining 

 and securing ground on the sea coast. The construction of canals, 

 and the management of rivers and harbours, are also dependent on 

 the same principles ; and these important subjects have been dis* 

 cussed by various writers, in many copious treatises, expressly 

 devoted to hydraulic architecture. 



When a bank or di'ue is to be constructed, it must be composed 

 of materials capable of resisting, by their weight, the effort of the 

 fluid to overturn them ; by their lateral adhesion, the force tending 



