PLANTING OF WASTE LAND. 



not require to be more than four feet, or four feet 

 and a-half high, but where these animals abound, 

 especially any of the Scotch breeds, five feet, inde- 

 pendent of the coping, will be requisite. Instead of 

 being built perpendicular or plumb, as it is termed, 

 dikes of all descriptions should be wider at the base 

 than at the top ; so that they may slope consider- 

 ably on each side, and that their centre of gravity 

 may be as near the ground as possible. This is es- 

 sential to their stability, for being without any kind 

 of cement to bind their materials together, they will, 

 if built perpendicularly, bulge out and soon fall to 

 pieces. When the stones are of a convenient size, 

 they should be built in regular courses ; the stones 

 of every succeeding course being so laid, that each 

 may rest upon two of those below, as in masonry. 

 The heart of the dike must be well packed, other- 

 wise the stones will fall inwards in the course of a 

 few years, and all will go to ruin. The top should be 

 either coped with turf, or with a row of stones, each 

 large enough to take in the whole, or nearly the 

 whole, breadth of the dike. The latter method is 

 the more eligible, as it affords less secure footing to 

 man or beast, that may be inclined to trespass, than 

 turf does. The best builders of stone-dikes are to 

 be found in the parts of the country where this 



