R E E 



ance of poll and railing, being of great utility for occafional 

 iifiMn gardens, to indole particular internal fpaces of ground, 

 fo as to afford (lieltcr to certain fcedling plants, both in nur- 

 feries and large kitchen gardens ; and in lome nurferies, to 

 form places of flielter for many forts of fcedling trees and 

 fhruhs, &c., which being tender whiUl young, require the 

 flicker of a fence in wjnter to break of! fevere or cutting 

 blalls two or three years, till they gi-adually gather Itrength 

 and a greater degree of hardinefs. They are alfo ufeful in 

 training feveral forts of wall-fruit-trees againll, to form them 

 for rows, or what are called trained trees ; admitting of 

 planting trees againil each fide of them, fix, eight, or ten 

 feet afunder. See NuRSERY. 



And in large open kitchen-gardens they are occafionally 

 made ufe of to inclofe the melonary, or place for raifing 

 early melons and cucumbers in, and often as crofs internal 

 fences, under which to form warm borders for the purpolc 

 of raifing various early crops of efculents. 



The proper fort of reeds for thefe fences are the dried 

 ftems of the common marfli reed, which grows in great 

 plenty by river fides, and in lakes, and marfhy places, fur- 

 nilhing a crop of ftems annually fit to cut in autumn, when 

 they fliould be bound in bundles, and Hacked up, or houfed, 

 to remain for ufe. 



Thefe fences are fometimes erefted in fixed ranges, and 

 fometimes formed into moveable pannels. In the firll mode, 

 fome ftout pofts fhould be placed fix or eight feet afunder, 

 and five or fix high, and from poft to poll carry two or 

 three ranges of flat thin railing, one range near the bottom, 

 another near the top, and a third in the middle ; againft this 

 raiUng, the reeds mull be placed about two inches thick, 

 having other railing fixed diredlly oppofite ; fo that the 

 reeds being all along between the double railing, the bot- 

 toms retting either upon a plate of wood, or let into the 

 ground, but the former is preferable ; and as foon as one 

 pannel is formed, the railing fiiould be nailed as clofe as 

 pofllble, driving fome long fpike-nails through each double 

 railing, or binding them with itrong withy bands, or tar 

 rope-yarn, but nailing is the beft, in order to bring them as 

 clofe as may be, to fecure the reeds firmly in the proper po- 

 fition ; the top fhould be cut even afterwards. 



In the better method, a frame-work of railing fhould be 

 prepared as above, each pannel (in. or eight feet long, and 

 the reeds fixed therein as before directed ; tlien, where they 

 are intended to be placed, pofts muft be ranged fix or eight 

 feet diftant to fupport the different pannels. Or fometimes 

 the nannels may be placed inchning againft the wall or other 

 fence, in time of fevere weather, when the borders are nar- 

 row. Thefe forts of fences are now however in much lefs 

 ufe in gardening than formerly. 



Reed Ronds, in Rural Economy, a provincial word, figni- 

 fying plots or beds of reed, or the fwamps in which they 

 grow. 



Reed, Ezellel's. See Ezekiel'j- Reed. 



Reed, Calamus, likewife denotes a Jewifh meafure, other- 

 wife called canna. 



Reed, in the Manufadory of Tapejlry. See Tapestry. 



Reed Sparrow, in Ornithology. See Emberiza Schoe- 

 iiiculus. 



Reed Point, in Geography, a cape on the W. coaft of the 

 ifland of Antigua. N. lat. 17"' 12'. W. long 61° 36'. 



REEDHAM. See Reepham. 



REEDS, in a Fire-Jloip, arc made up in fmall bundles of 

 about twelve inches in circumference, cut even at both ends, 

 and tied each with two bands. There are two kinds of 

 them ; the long, which are four feet ; and the fhort, which 

 are two feet five inches in length. Some of them are fingly 



Vol. XXIX. 



R E E 



dipped, ;. e. at one end, the reft arc dipped at both ends, iv 

 a kettle of melted compofition. After being immerfcd 

 about feven or eight inches in this preparation, and then 

 drained, they are fprinkled over with pulverized fulphur 

 upon a tanned hide. See YiRE-Jhip. 



REEDSBOROUGH, in Geography. See Readsbo- 



ROUGU. 



REEDSTOWN. See Strong. 



REEDY Creek, a river of Nfew Jerfey, which runj into 

 the Atlantic, N. lat. 39° 55'. W. long. 74=^ 16'. 



Reedy I/land, an ifland of America, in the Delaware 

 river, 50 miles below Philadelphia, and 20 miles from Bom- 

 bay Hook, about three miles long and not more than one- 

 fourth of a mile wide. This ifland was formerly banked in, 

 but is now under cultivation, and overflowed in high tides. 

 It is the rendezvous of outward-bound flrips in autumn and 

 fpring, waiting for a fair wind. Here is a fecure harbour 

 at Port Penn, where piers have been erefted by the ftate of 

 Pennfylvania. On each fide of the ifland is a channel ; but 

 veflels, efpecially of the larger kind, choofe to keep the 

 eaftern fide. 



Reedv River. Sec Saluda. 



Reedy River Shoal, a poft-town of America, in Green- 

 field county. South Carohna. 



REEF (reef, Dutch-, in Na'vigalion, denotes a certain por- 

 tion of a fail, comprehended between the top or bottom, 

 and a row of eyelet-holes parallel to it. The intention of the 

 reef is to reduce the furface of the fail in proportion to the 

 incrcafe of the wind ; for which purpofe there are feveral 

 reefs parallel to each other in the fuperior fails, by which 

 they may be ftill farther diminilhed, in order to correfpond 

 with the feveral degrees of the gale. The top-fails of ftiips 

 are ufually furniftied with four reefs, parallel to the yard ; 

 and there are always three or four reefs parallel to the foot 

 of thofe main-fails and fore-fails which are extended upon 

 booms ; a circumftance common to many ef the fmall velTels. 

 Falconer. 



A bag-reef is the fourth, or lower, reef of a top-fail. 

 A balance-reef croffes boom-main-fails diagonally, from the 

 nock to the end of the upper reef-band an the after-larch. 

 This is ufed to contradl the fails in a ftorm. 



Reef alfo denotes a chain of rocks, lying near the furface 

 of the water. 



REEF-Band, in Sea Language, a piece of canvas, fewed 

 acrofs the fail, to ftrengthen it in the place where the eyelet- 

 holes of the reefs are formed. 



REEF-ffanis, fhort pieces of log-line or other fmall line, 

 faftened at certain diflances to form the reefs of boom- 

 fails. 



REEF-Tacile, is a rope which pafl^es from the deck to a 

 block at the tcp-maft head, and thence to another block 

 at the topfail-yard-arm, where it communicates vAth another 

 rope, called its pendant, that runs downwards through a 

 hole in the yard, and is afterwards attached to a cringle, a 

 little below the loweft reef. It is ufed to pull the fkirts 

 of the reefs clofe up to the extremities of the top-fail yards, 

 in order to lighten the fail, the weight of which would 

 otherwife render it very difficult to perform this operation. 

 Falconer. 



Reef Ifland, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Eaft 

 Indian fea, about 50 miles from the W. coaft of Sumatra. 

 S. lat. 4°. E. long. 101° 3'.— Alfo, a fmall ifland in the 

 Eaft Indian fea, near the N. coaft of the ifland of Celebes. 

 N. lat. 0° 8'. E. long. 122° 48'. 



REEFING, in Sea Language, the operation of reducing 

 a fail, by taking in one or more of the reefs, which is per- 

 formed by lines, points, or knittles. The top.lails are 

 4 C always 



