AND PROTECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND. 



I. The protection of land from the wasting action of rivers. 



II. The prevention of rivers, when in flood, overflowing low- 

 lying tracts of land. 



III. The reclamation and protection of tidal lands situated 

 on estuaries ; and 



IV. The defence of sea-shores from the action of the waves. 

 Large tracts of peat bog, such as Blair Drummond moss in 



Perthshire, and of waste land, such as the Fylde of Lancashire, 

 as well as land submerged by lochs, as Loch Leven in Kinross- 

 shire, have been reclaimed and brought into cultivation ; but 

 these improvements having been effected by drainage, do not, 

 it will be seen, come within the range of the topics treated of 

 in this paper. 



