AND PROTECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND. 7 



the better regulation of the boundaries of the march lines of the 

 adjacent properties. It will be seen that the river was, in that in- 

 stance, carried through a narrow neck of land measuring about 

 500 feet, and saving a detour of upwards of 4500 feet. Fig 2. 

 is a cross section of the new channel. To the effect of such 

 alterations on a river's banks and floods I shall have occasion 

 to refer hereafter, and merely add here that the cut at the 

 Kinnel was formed twenty years ago, and Sir William Jardine, 



C __ FjmMr Surface of Grnuncl 



Fig 2. 



through whose property it was made, informs me that it " has 

 proved most satisfactory in every respect, and that the banks 

 have stood without any necessity for repair." 



The violence of scouring action is also well illustrated on 

 rivers with steep gradients and high velocities flowing through 

 a channel having alternately high gravel scars and flat gravel 

 banks. Such, for example, as the Ae in Dumfriesshire, which 

 at some places has a fall of 45 feet per mile. In all such cases, 

 the river highly charged with gravel has its power of erosion 

 greatly augmented, and very speedily hollows out its solid banks, 

 and makes serious inroads on the adjoining property, and, if 

 unchecked, will continue to abrade the banks to an extent that 

 may interfere with existing roads and fences, and thus prove 

 highly prejudicial. In my own experience I have found both 

 fences and roads carried away, to the great inconvenience of the 

 public and damage to property. 



