SS Sh ee pe ee Le ene at eee 
FASCINE WORK IN N.S.W. XXIIl. 
The embankment on the western side of the Long Cove Canal 
has been one of the most difficult of any of these works to deal 
with, owing to the soft bottom met with in places, which in no 
case developed when the bank was being constructed, but when 
the filling was being placed behind. 
The weight of filling being greater than the weight of an equal 
bulk of bank, pressed the soft mud out from beneath the bank 
into the canal. Section herewith showing the fascine work only 
slightly disturbed, yet a considerable cavity at back with a cor- 
responding rise in front. 
To curb this subsidence of the filling, piling along the toe of the 
bank has been resorted to, and only one subsidence has since been 
reported, which is attributable to the piles being of insufficient 
length to reach beyond the liquid mud underlying the bank, 
although twenty-six feet long. 
In one instance at the mouth of the canal, ballast was tried, 
but after 3,500 tons of stone had been deposited over an area 
of 444 square yards, the ballast was still sinking, at the same 
time displacing the mud as shown by an upheaval in the canal 
near by. 
The following is a detailed description of the method of con- 
struction of fascine embankment ; after the alignment has been 
done, and the author can state from severe personal experience, 
that the setting out of the work is no trifle, when over your knees 
in mud and still sinking, you are uncertain whether to tell the 
chainman to come and pull you out, or go on with his distances. 
A trench 18 feet wide is made to a depth of 1 foot below low 
water mark, spring tides, and then the first layer of fascine is laid 
for a length of about 50 feet with the bushy ends out, bearing in 
mind that the next layer has to bond over them. A layer of mud 
9” to 1’ deep is then deposited on the fascines, and the work 
carried up ina similar manner until the requisite height is reached, 
attention being given to breaking bond with the fascines, by using 
long or short bundles as required, 
