1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
57 
TIDE GATE AND DIKE. 
support. This may be afforded either by planks 
or by clay, or any heavy soil that ■will pack 
well, as represented in the engravings. 
In the figure 2 we have a cross section of 
such embankment with its accompanying ditch- 
es. A, represents the section of compact soil 
or clay taken from the adjoining bank or fields, 
extending perpendicularly from the hard pan 
to the top of the dike, and along the whole 
sea front of the marsh to be reclaimed. The 
left hand side is toward the sea, the right to- 
ward the land to be drained. Begin the work 
by cutting out the section .4, down to the hard 
pan, and piling the sods on the edge toward the 
sea, making a pei-pendicularwall to support the 
clay. The muck that is taken out below the 
surface may be packed on the outside of the 
sods to support them, and so add to the em- 
bankment After a few rods have been prepared 
in this way, the clay should be brought and 
■'►^^'e? 
Fl, '3 — NARROW DIKE. 
dumped into the ditch and be packed with a 
rammer in the most thorough manner, until the 
excavation is filled to the surface of the marsh. 
You now want to raise the other section of A, 
above the level of the marsh, and you do this 
by taking the sods from the ditch B, on the 
inside of the embankment. Sods enough may 
be taken to form the support of the clay pack- 
ing, and the rest be reseiTed to finish the em- 
bankment, presenting a smooth surface of well 
packed sods at an angle of about 45 degrees. 
The breadth of the clay packing is to be de- 
termined by the hight of the embankment, 
which of coui'se must have reference to the hight 
of the tides. The dike should be at least a foot 
above the highest known tide. If the dike is 
not more than three or four feet above the level 
of the marsh, a packing eighteen inches thick 
will be sufficient to keep out the tide. The 
greater the pressure upon the dike, the thicker 
the packing, and tlie higher and broader the 
embankment should be. In case of very high 
embankments, a second packing as shown in the 
illustration (figure 4) may be necessary. 
In some locations it may be necessary to ex- 
pose the embankment to the direct action of the 
sea. If there is to be violent action of the 
waves, a sea wall will be necessary. But this 
is not usually the case, in those small parcels of 
marsh land that a farmer would be likely to 
undertake to reclaim with his own capital. The 
expediency of cutting a drain on the outside of 
the embankment is to be determined by the 
quantity of material needed. It is not in itself 
desirable. If the inside ditch will furnish ma- 
terial enough it is better to leave the outside un- 
broken. In digging the inside drain, a rim four 
or five feet wide should be left between the 
ditch and the edge of the embankment. It 
makes the bank stronger, and is an additional 
safeguard against the burrowing of muskrats. 
In all cases the banks of the ditches are to be 
left with a slope. It is found that these sly dep- 
redatore work much more readily into a per- 
pendicular surface than into a slope. 
As to the width of the embankmeut, it is de- 
sirable in all cases to have it wide enough for a 
cart path, but where the embankment is low, 
and the pressure of the water is small, this is not 
necessary. The use of the bank for a path 
would often be found a great convenience in 
drawing sea weed and manure, and in removing 
crops, and it tends, also, to solidify the dike 
and make it more durable. The inside slope of 
the bank should be sown with clover and herds- 
grass both to its usefulness and permanence. 
BROAD DIKE WITH CART PATH. 
A good example of successful diking upon a 
small scale may be seen upon the premises of 
Col. Hanks Head, of Mystic, Conn. "We wish 
our correspondent, and all others who contem- 
plate improvements in their salt marshes, the 
largest success. No enterprise, we are confi- 
dent, promises a larger reward. 
The limits of a single article will not admit 
of discussing convenient forms of gates, etc., 
but the engraving. Fig. 1, at the head of the 
page will give a good idea of one of the 
simplest kinds. A trunk 18 inches square pas- 
ses through the embankment at the lowest con- 
venient level. It is constructed of 2 or 3 inch 
oak plank, laid in masonry and cement; or it 
only enters the masonry far enough to gain 
strength and solidity. On the outside end a 
gate is hung, as shown, the hinges, nails, etc., 
being of composition metal, and the bottom of 
the trunk inside being protected by a sheet of 
copper to prevent muskrats gnawing holes in it. 
4. — HIGH AND NARROW DIKE. 
The exterior ditch shown is usually seen, es- 
pecially in cases where salt-hay may be cut out- 
side the dike ; it is useful in letting off the wa- 
ter rapidly when the tide falls. 
Glanders and Farcy. 
With an article on glanders in the October 
number (page 309) we gave a particular de- 
scription of this disease, when it attacks primari- 
ly the nasal cavity, the bones of the face, and, 
under some circumstances, however, dependent 
probably on the condition of the system of the 
CASE OF FARCT. 
patient, the lymphatic system is attacked. The 
vessels immediately beneath tlie skin become 
hard aud cord-lilce, and the nodes and glands 
swelled, hard and 
sensitive to the 
touch. These 
swollen glands, 
termed " Farcy 
buds," after a 
while suppurate 
and form ulcerous 
diuzy sores ; and 
these, when the 
affection is local- 
ized and intense, 
become confluent, 
in a measure. 
They exude a pale 
yellowish white ■ 
or darker colored, 
unhealthy matter, 
quite unlike the 
pus accompany- 
ing healthy granulation, or common sores. 
The sores not unfrequently remain inert, and 
sometimes yield to external applications and 
appear to be healed ; but the appearance is de- 
ceptive and they break out worse than before. 
Farcy shows itself on the sides of the face, 
neck, body, the inner sides of the legs, and some- 
times on the exterior sides. The inner sides of 
the legs are the most common places for it to 
show itself, especially if there is a tendency to 
dropsy or a dropsical enlargment of the extrem- 
ities. It is usually, at least at first, confined to 
the inner side of one leg. Tlie accompanying 
illustration is taken from a picture by a veter- 
inarian, of a case which came under treatment 
at the Royal Veterinary College, London. It 
exhibits a confluent condition of many of the 
ulcers, the skin nearly gone, and the leg swelled 
and dropsical. Farcy always terminates in 
glanders, and the symptoms of glanders are 
commonly observed very soon after the farcy 
symptoms are well developed. 
Inoculation with the virus from these sores 
produces glanders or farcy, according to the 
condition of the patient. Accidental infection 
or inoculation may easily occur in various 
ways, and may affect either men or horses. 
Two cases of the death of grooms from gland- 
ers have recently been reported in the papers, 
and we presume others may have occurred and 
the disease not been recognized. When the 
activity of the disease is wholly confined to the 
skin, it affects the rest of the system only 
through the general debility which supervenes. 
Farcy is regarded by many veterinary physi- 
cians as curable. In fact, the veiy case from 
which the drawing we give was taken, is report- 
ed to have been permanently restored, by the 
judicious administration of tonic stimulants, 
with cantharides. But when the nose and 
lungs are affected, the case is hopeless and the 
horse should be shot, and buried at once. The 
appearance of the nose and the submaxilary 
lymphatic gland was so recently descrilicd in the 
AgriculturUt that it is only necessaiy to say 
that the inner pink membrane on the middle 
wall between the nostrils, when affected by the 
glanders, becomes pale and sickly, sprinkled 
with small sores, and discharges a sizy, gluey 
matter, vciy different fi-om the whitish or waterj' 
mucus of a cold or catarrh. Cases of glandered 
and farcied horses are by no means rare in the 
country, and every owner of a good horse 
should be on his guard in putting him into 
strange stables, or with strange horses. 
