NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



2-}:5 



length, it was proposed, to drive a number of 

 piles, about forty or fifty yards from the fort.— 

 Those piles were twelve or fit'teen inches in di- 

 ameter, and driven about one diameter trom 

 each other, nearly in a strai!3:ht line parallel to 

 the wall where the waves did so much damage. 

 IThey were driven into the g^round with a pile 

 engine, till perfectly firm: perhaps eight or 

 nine feet deep, and about two feet of the top 

 of them left above the level of high water 

 mark. 



" Alter this was done the walls received nn 

 farther injury, the space between the piles and 

 the fort being always perlectly smooth, howev- 

 er tempestuous the waves might be without." 



Where the force of the tide is not very great, 

 by giving the face of the bank a great degree 

 t)f slope, small stones, coarse gravel, or broken 

 trick may be spread on the surface, about a foot 

 thick, which if well beaten down will make a 

 safe and durable fence. Brush wood also, 

 spread on the surface of the bank, and well fas- 

 tened down with hooked pegs, is found to an- 

 swer the purpose well. The wood is liable to 

 decaj', and requires to be frequently renewed ; 

 but when it can be easily procured the expense 

 is not great. 



In consequence of the counteraction of the 

 sea, all streams spread greatly at their mouths, 

 and the earth they bring down is deposited 

 there, and accumulates into shoals and inlets. — 

 The soil which is thus formed, is invariably ol 

 the richest kind, and the recovery of it becomes 

 of course an object of proportional advantage. 



The most advisable and effectual plan for this 

 purpose, when it can be executed at an ade- 

 quate expense, is to alter the course of the riv- 

 er altogether, and make it discharge itself at 

 some new point of the coast, where the land 

 that would be occupied by its channel might be 

 Df less value, and its discharge less liable to be 

 :hoked or shifted by the regorging action of the 

 iide. When this has been done, it was found, 

 chat the old channel, in the course of a few 

 years was filled up, and the sea quite excluded. 



The practicability and economy of embank- 

 ing and draining lands which are usually over 

 flowed by tide water has been evinced by many 

 successful experiments. Holland consists mostly 

 of land reclaimed from the sea ; and in England, 

 many hundreds of thousands of acres have been 

 acquired by means of embanking. There is no 

 doubt but valuable tracts might in the same 

 aaanner be reclaimed along the sea coast of 

 Massachusetts and other maritime parts of the 

 United States. In the Southern states draining 

 and embanking have been successfully under- 

 taken ; and the Messrs. Swartwout's and their 

 associates of New York, have distinguished 

 themselves by a similar enterprize in the vici- 

 nity of that city. We shall give some accounl 

 pf this last mentioned undertaking, extracted 

 from a Report of a Committee of the New Jer- 

 sey Salt Marsh Company, published in the Ame- 

 rican Farmer, vol. ii, p. 15f. 



"In 1813 and 1814, the Messrs. Stwartwouis 

 purchased the Newark Meadows, and m 1815, 

 commenced the work of their improvement. — 

 They were then in a dreary, sunken and desi- 

 late situation, subject to the inundations of e\ e- 

 ry tide from the river, and totally destitu'e ofj 

 cultivation. Few or no attempts had been niadei 

 in this section of the union, to reclaim salt- 

 marshes of any extent. The most econooiicalj 



and improved method of draining and embank- 

 ment was not understood, and the price of la- 

 bor much higher than at present. 



" The former proprietors of these meadows, 

 however, under every discouraging circum- 

 stance, calculated to defeat a great undertaking 

 in its incipient stages, commenced their opera- 

 tions and succeeded, as far as individual enter- 

 prize and capital would permit. They embank- 

 ed two thousand acres, making an embaiikmonl 

 of five and a half miles in length, sixteen feet 

 wide at the base, and five feet high. One thou- 

 sand acres they ditched and drained, making a 

 length of ditch of seventy miles and upwanls. 



'• There remains to be embanked one tlum- 

 sand acres, and two thousand acres to be ditch- 

 ed and drained. The method of accompli.'*hing 

 this object is at once plain and simple. The 

 tides must be excluded, and the land redeemed 

 from its wetness. It will be necessary to raise 

 an embankment, similar to that already de- 

 scribed, and extend it about five miles, and to 

 ditch that part which remains in a state which 

 precludes cultivation. When this is effected, 

 two thousand acres of most excellent soil will 

 be ready for immediate cultivation, and the re- 

 maining thousand be in a similar state in two 

 years. The whole of the remaining work could 

 be executed in ninety days.''* 



The Committee then expatiate on the ad- 

 vantages to be derived irom this improvement, 

 trom its location near the great and growing 

 city of New York, the fertility of the soil to be 

 reclaimed, SiC. &c. and continue as follows : 



" The embankment and draining of meadows 

 will soon become an object of much consideration. 

 So it has been with other countries. What was 

 Holland but a sunken marsh, before the sea was 

 shut out, and the lands drained ? It is well known 

 that some of her most fertile soil was once 

 deeply covered by the ocean, and is now forty 

 ftet below its surface ! Four hundred years ago, 

 Ihe British Parliament began to aid individual 

 enterprise, in reclaiming meadows and marshes. 

 The Bedford level, once a waste, contains 300- 

 000 acres of reclaimed soil, and the Romney 

 marsh 40,000 acres. Embankments in England 

 have been erected to the height of 18 and 

 20 feet, and extended to the length of ten 

 miles,"' &LC. " In Denmark, the government 

 have encouraged individuals and companies to 

 embark in these substantial and profitable spec- 

 ulations, by large loans of money. In one year, 

 upwards of one million of rix dollars were ad- 

 vanced for these purposes. Such has been the 

 extent of unoccupied lands in the United States, 

 and the ease with whicli the fee is obtained, 

 that draining and embankment have not consti- 

 tuted an object of general interest. In the 

 Southern States, however, some advances are 

 made in this kind of industrj-. Draining and 

 embankment have been successfully undertaken 

 on the Cape Fear, Waggermaw, Santee, Ashley 

 and Cooper, and Savannah rivers. As popula- 

 tion clusters upon the sea board and upon the 

 margins of our bays and rivers, we shall find a 

 new channel opened to the industry and capital 

 of our citizens, from which individual gain and 

 general advantages will result." The Commit- 

 tee then state, in substance, that the capital 



* This Report was presented in June, 18"0. Wc 

 are not able so say what measures have betu pursued 

 since that period lor embanking and draining^ the uiarsli 

 it refers to. 



stock of the New .Jersey Salt Mar>h Company 

 consists of three hundred thousand dollars, di- 

 vided into shares of filly dollars each ; and go 

 into calculations to show that " the dividend to 

 be derived to the stockholdere, according to thi 

 most reasonable compulation, must be seven [lei 

 cent, for the first fourteen years, and will pro- 

 bably ever after pay from 12 to 15 per cent, on 

 the capital stock." 



There is a mode of improving lands situated 

 at or near the mouths of rivers, which deserve? 

 notice, although we cannot assert that it will 

 be found eligible in the United States. There 

 may, however, be situations, in whic h it can be 

 ailopted to advantage, and we shall therefore 

 brieily advert to it. It is called " H'lirpin^ 

 Land."' It is effected by conducting water, 

 which holds earthy matters in suspensio n, wash- 

 ed down by rivers to their moulh«, from the 

 stream in vvhich they flowed, over barren or 

 marshy grouml, that the earthy matters may 

 subside, and add to the soil which is thus over- 

 tlowed. The ground which it is wi.-hed to im- 

 prove by this metlmd is surrounded by Lank:' 

 high enough to confine the water. The tide is 

 then admitted, and detained till the sediment is 

 deposited on the surl'ace of the soil. The wa- 

 ter must be at command, and there must be not 

 only a canal cut to join the river or tide wstcr, 

 but a sluice, or sluices to open or shut as want- 

 ed. Tide trunks with some variation in their 

 construction as respects their valves, from that 

 heretofore described, may answer for these slui- 

 ces. The effect is different from that of irri- 

 gation, for it is not produced by the water, but 

 by the mud which it holds in suspension; and 

 the object is not to manure, but to create a soil. 

 This mode of making land has been practiced 

 in Italy to great extent, and with corresponding 

 advantage. For further directions relating to 

 this important subject, we would refer our read- 

 ers to Rccs'' Cyclopedia, Art. Einbankinvnt ; Sir 

 Jiilui Sinclair's Code of Agricidturc, p. 2G8, 272 ; 

 Gen. Report of Jlgricutture in Scotland, vol. ii, p. 

 615; Bcatson's Essay on Enibanhncnts ; Commu- 

 nications to the Board of .Igriculturc, vol. ii, p. 

 214 ; American Farmer, vol. ii, p. 131, 143, 153. 



JVeyi' Jersey Canal. — Gen. Swift and Col. Ren- 

 wick have reported to the Commissioners, at 

 Morristown, that the plan of uniting the Dela- 

 ware and Hudson by the Musconetcong and I'a.s- 

 saic rivers may he accomplished without serious 

 obstacles ; that its completion would be attend- 

 t'd with immense advantages to the Iron Works 

 in New Jerse), and supply the city of N. York 

 with coal from the mines on the Lehigh river, 

 in Pennsylvania, at a low price. It would also 

 furnish the citizens of East Jersey with a more 

 ready conveyance oi their agricultural products 

 to the N. Y. market. 



Flax-dressing machine. — J. M. Elj', Esq. of 

 New-York, recently returned from a visit to 

 Europe, examined Mr. Enndley's esiablishment 

 in London. Mr. B. informed him that he had 

 invented a machine for dressing flax which he 

 will warrant to accomplish all that can be de- 

 sired. He had not filed a specification of his 

 machine, but he was confident it would super- 

 sede those now in use in England. 



Receipt for Sausages. — For 10 lbs. of meat, take 4 

 ounces of salt, one ounce of pepper, and aaje and oth- 

 er herbs to your taste. 



