Where that is Iva the ease naturally, they ought to be moulded into that form by art ; as whet' a river, in place of being outlined in its progress, has a lamer of ollna awl the damage to he apprehended is ineonsidel aide com pared with what, is likely to happen when, bein•. restrained within too narro• limits. it is constantly for an extension of space. Where the soil is rich free mould. and the under stratum, opposite to the greatest 6 free 4)1' the Wa ler. sand or gravel, this struggle never finis to be attended with bad consequences. If the soil and subsoil be one entire mass of clay or Along loam, and the current of the liver (hies not press more upon one part than another, a most substantial improvement may be effected by sloping the hank, so that the declivity may one foot in three or Gnu' from the snr face of the field to the bed of the river. This some may object to, as sacrificing a certain of valuable land; but it should rather, it is thought, be considered as a premium paid fir the insurance of the remainder, than as a total loss. If gravel, mixed with small stones, can be conveniently pro. cured, si)reading these materials on the sloping bank to the depth of eight or ten inches, and till beyond the ft 'wings of the river, will prove a good security against farther damage; and if the bank be planted thlek with any sort of willow, especially the 1)utch willow, it will in a short time la.corne an impenetrable tense, while the annual cuttings of a ood will soon be equal to the heritable value of the land thus apparently sacrificed. Where no gravel can be procured, the new sloped bank should be immediately etivered with well swarded turf, pressed down as hard as possible, either with the back of a spade, or as ith wooden mallets. If this be done in the beginning of stumner, and willows planted the following autumn, the impr4)vement will be both effee tied and permanent. In ease the river run with extraordi nary violence against any one particular part of the bank, it may be necessary to make a fence or bulwark of stone in the front of that place; the best way of doing which, is, in place of building a wall, to drop the stones in a careless manner, but so as they may lie close together on the sloped bank, as already suggested.
This is a much more secure mode of fencing., if the bank be nmde with sufficient declivity, than any stone wall that ever was built fOr the purpose, and while it is the most secure, it is also the least expensive; but Care should be taken to lay the stones all the way front the bed of the river, till considerably beyond where the river flows in summon. Where the soil is of a strong adhesive nature, and the under stratum is sand or a pebbly gravel, it becomes in a much greater degree necessary to slope the banks. The water, when rushing violently along, has a powerful effect in under mining the bank ; so that the soil, having nothing to support it, naturally gives way, and frequently in such quantities as to occasion very serious loss both to proprietors and tenants. In all such eases, the slope should be made much more gra dual than where the soil and subsoil are of the same quality, and as will nourish aquatic plants. The banks, having been sloped according as circumstances require, a thick coat of gravel, mixed with small stones, where such can be pro cured, should he laid on, so as to form a kind of natural beach, over a lief the river, when in flood, have power to extend itself at pleasure. :Should it be difficult or im possible to procure such materials as are proper fu' anrIIIing this best (of all defences, strong thick stals should be plaee41 on the surlitee. in the manner before directed: these. if laid in spring, or early in summer, will have time t4) unite, and to become one compact lady before the autumnal floods (which are those whence the greatest danger is to be expect ed) begin to flow. If the subsoil be of a nature unfavour
able to the growth of willows, such sods as are full of the roots of rushes should be made choice of in preference to all others; as, where these plants thrive and spread over the surfaee, it becomes in a great degree impenetrable by in great floods, and when the river runs e ith consider erable violence and rapidity.
The directions above given will, it is supposed, he found more or less practicable and useftd i(.•eorditig as the river on ordinary occasions runs with greater or less rapidity. In level. or nearly level districts, all that is necessary is to seenre full scope for the rivers to overflow their usual bounds with out interruption ; when that is secured by either of the methods before mentioned, floods, unless very violent, seldom do any material daniage to the banks of rivers in such situa. tions. It becomes in many cases extremely difficult to fence rapid running rivers in such a manner as to prevent part of the hanks from being carried away by inundation. Sloping the banks would he attended with no good consequences. Even strong bulwarks made of stone are often swept away by the overpowering flood. A method has, however, been suggested, of fencing the sides of a rapid running river, which has been practised with success. after several other attempts had toiled : it is by means of a sort of large baskets, pro vincially termed creels, funned of haze], willow, &c., into. a kind of open network, which being placed along the bottom of the banks, are tilled with stones. This is a very simple, and by no means an expensive expedient ; and as these baskets may he made to contain two or three tons of stone, it can only be on few occasions, and in very particular situations, that a basket, containing such a weight, can be displaced or carried away. Such a mode of fencing as this, it is imagined, would prove effectual in many parts of Scot land and Wales, where the rivers run with uncommon rapidity. Owing to inattention, or rather to not being aware of the consequences, much damage is often done to the banks of rivers in level districts, especially if' the banks be perpen dicular, and of a considerable height, by allowing the land floods to fall over them into the river. As the water from the furrows approaches the hank, it is frequently stopped in the furrow of the head ridge, which becomes for a time a kind of reservoir ; the consequence of which is, that a con siderable proportion of water sinks and filters through the earth, which being thus softened and swelled, is more easily undermined and carried off by the river. Sometimes little cuts or openings are made for the furrows across the head ridge, for the purpose of conducting the rain-water into the river ; here, again, the consequences are equally bad. Who ever will examine the bank of a river where this mode of management is adopted, and it is very common, will observe, that at every one of these cuts or openings a little creek is formed, in consequence of the bank having been more soft ened, and by that means having become a more easy prey to the river when in flood. To prevent these evils, it is neces sary, besides sloping the banks, to devote a part of the lands adjoining, to the breadth of •0 or 30 yards, for instance. either to pasturage or the growth of trees, and to form a drain at a proper distance from, and parallel to the bank, for the purpose of collecting and carrying off the water from the furrows. Were this done, and were the water from this drain conducted into the river by conduits firmed a little above its ordinary level, much land, which is annually lost by neglecting this simple precaution, would be saved, and preserved in ;), proper state.