R 1 D 



R I D 



tinned in the navy, as they could only be ufeful in wake of courfe conceived, that this form was purpofely given them, 



the main and fore-chains, as the midfhips is much better as the only means by which lands in fuch a (late could be 



drengthened now by uniting the fides and Jiid-beams toge- drained. And that, as the molt crooked ridges are found 



th'r bv the knees. on tnL ' ^eep and (loping grounds, it may be fuppofed tha 1 



Thefe riders ftood diagonally, fo as to fallen through two that form and pofition were adopted by the firll cultivators, as 



or more timbers, the Itrength depending much thereon, the bed for preventing the foil from being warned away by 



The top-riders came up to" the top of the fide, and the 

 breadth-riders between them and the third futtock-ridcrs, or 

 on the broadeft part of the fhip, and hence their name. 

 Riders are not fo much required in merchant-fhips as in 

 fhips of war, excepting floor and lower riders in large (hips 

 (which are generally of iron, fo as not to interrupt the 

 ftowage),becaufe the cargo being flowed low down, and the 

 rising lighter, the upper works are not fo liable to ftrain 

 and labour, like thofe fhips of war having their heavy 

 ordnance above the line of floatation. 



RIDGE, in Buildings, the higheft part of the roof or 

 covering of a houfe. 



Ridge is particularly ufed for a piece of wood, in which 

 the rafters meet. 



RiDGE-ryfe. See Tyle. 



Ridge, in Sea Language, is a long aflemblage of rocks, 

 lying near the furface of the fea, fo as to intercept the paf- 

 fage of a fhip under fail. 



RiDGV-Taci/e. See Tackle. 

 RiDGZ-Ropes. See Ropes. 



RIDGEFIELD, in Geography, a pod-town of Ame- 

 rica, in Fairfield county, Connecticut ; to miles S.W. of 

 Danbury. This townfhip was called by the Indians « Cau- 

 dotowa," or high land. It was fettled in 1709, and contains 

 2103 inhabitants. 



RIDGES, in Agriculture, are pieces of ground laid up be- 

 tween two furrows, having always confiderable length, but 

 different fmall breadths, according to circumftances. 



It is ftated by the author of the Prefent State of Agri- 

 culture in Great Britain, that in many of the more fertile 

 and populous didriCts, the ridges are found remarkably 

 crooked, unequal in breadth, and made to rife towards the 

 middle, or crown, to the height of feveral feet above the fur- 

 rows, on either fide. And he fuppofes that thefe are formed 

 in the word manner, to anfwer the purpofes which are now 

 intended by dividing a field into ridges. But this, he thinks, 

 could not have efcaped the notice of all the farmers of for- 

 mer periods ; but that, on the contrary, from the practice 

 being fo general, it- is more than probable that fuch form, 

 though now confidered abfurd, was formerly fuppofed an 

 improvement, as in the cafe of many other practices of anti- 

 quity ; as in many of the hilly fituations in Scotland, where 

 the foils are dry, and in a tolerably level date, and where 

 cultivation had without doubt taken place at a very early 

 period, although at prefent abandoned to the growth of 

 heath, the ridges are found as draight as thofe in the bed 

 cultivated didriCts in the kingdom. The reafon which in- 

 duced the cultivators of thefe times to conftruCt the ridges 

 in fuch forms, may, he thinks, be explained in this way ; 

 that as the lands were modly cultivated in the open field, or 

 run-ridge date, the furrows of the ridges were, for the mod 

 part, the mark or boundary between one farmer and an- 

 other. The portion of land belonging to a tenant in any one 

 place being on this account fo fmall, as to prV-ent him from 

 employing any other mode of drainage, than that of railing 

 the ridge to fuch a height, as to permit the water to dif- 

 charge itfelf by the furrows, without injuring the crop. It 

 is dated, that all the ridges that are broader at one end than 

 the other, will generally be difcovered to be the narrowed 

 at that end which is dill the moll wet and fpouty. It is of 



6 



fudden falls of rain, which mud no doubt have been the 

 cafe to a greater extent, had the ridges been draight. Each 

 furrow, by becoming a fort of fmall rivulet, without any 

 thing to impede its courfe, mull have done more mifchief to 

 the foil than if it had been gradually taken off the circuitous 

 courle of the crooked ridges. 



But from the change in the nature of poffi.-ffmg lands, 

 proprietors and tenants having now, except in a few open field 

 didriCls, the means of draining and forming the ridges in 

 the mod effectual manner, thefe old forms of ridges, which 

 can only be ufeful in fuch cads as the above, are not only 

 rendered ufelefs, but operate drongly againll the full im- 

 provement of the foil. But notwithstanding this, there is, 

 it is conceived, no fort of bufrntfs in which the farmer can 

 be engaged, that demands more judgment and caution than 

 that of levelling and altering the direction of fuch forts of 

 ridges. However, before the mode of managing this in the 

 cheaped and mod effectual manner is explained, it may be 

 proper to (hew the moll fuitable forms and directions in dif- 

 ferent forts of foil, and under different circumdances of the 

 grounds. 



In forming ridges, great attention is necefiary to the na- 

 ture and quality of the foil, and the particular fituation of 

 it, as the fize, height, and direction mud, in a great mea- 

 fure, be governed by them. It has been obferved by a 

 late practical writer, that where the land is of fuch a nature 

 as to be highly retentive of moillure, or, from the pecu- 

 liarity of its pofition, liable to become too wet for the 

 growth of ufeful crops, the ridges fhould in general be 

 made narrower, and have a more rounded or convex form, 

 than in the contrary cafe, or where it is expofed to injury 

 from becoming too dry. But, in the fird cafe, they ought 

 not, however, to be raifed fo very high as is fometimes the 

 praftice, as by fuch means much inconvenience is often fuf- 

 tained from the crowns becoming too dry, and the grain 

 ripening in a flow and partial manner. Befides, narrow 

 ridges, with but a little elevation, are, in general, much 

 more effectual in taking away the water that may be in- 



jurious. 



It has been remarked by the writer of the Perthihire 

 Agricultural Report, in refpeCt to the height of ridges in 

 lands of more dry defcription, that as the furrows, in gene- 

 ral, produce lefs crop than any other part of the ground, 

 the fewer furrows the better, provided the land can bear it. 

 If the field be dry, there is not only more produce by fewer 

 furrows, but the ridges are cloven by every ploughing (a 

 thing that cannot be done in raifed ridges with deep fur- 

 rows), which keeps them in an uniform level furface, and 

 greatly facilitates the labour of fpri.ng and harved. Per- 

 fons who are not accultomed to invedigate the caufe of what 

 they daily fee, are deterred from making their ridges nearly 

 flat by the waters that dagnate, in the drips of grafs and 

 fprits that lie between the ridges, which they have raifed 

 greatly in the middle : never confidering that they are work- 

 ing againd nature, becaufe the more the ridges are rounded 

 the deeper are the furrows, till they become like ditches, 

 and the more readily do clods fall down, fo that they are 

 with their own hands producing the very evil which they 

 wifh to prevent. Whereas, were the drips of flags and 

 other trumpery torn up, were the furrows lefs deep, and 



kept 



