Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

1

*

ground. And, as these haughs are generally very rich and fertile, and fometimes of very great extent, the damage that is done by not getting them properly cultivated, is very confiderable. As this is an object of very great consequence to the public, and of importance to many individuals, it appears to me not a little extraordinary, that no attempt to remedy this evil has hitherto been

pu

*Haugh is a name peculiarly appropriated, in the northern parts of Britain, to denote those low flat lying fields that are frequently met with upon the fides of rivers, and is applied to no fpecies of ground in any other fituation whatever. As the word is expreffive, and conveys a diftinct idea that can be expreffed by no other fingle word that I know, I have chosen to retain it here; although I am senfible, that, perhaps, one half of the inhabitants of this ifland can hardly pronounce this combination of let ters. If the reader knows any word that could be substituted in its ftead, it will be easy for him to res ject the term entirely.

published ; at least as far as I know.

And,

as it is greatly to be wished that some method could be contrived to preserve these fields from this inconvenience at an easy expence, it is hoped, that the following attempt to accomplish this, will be received by the public with fome degree of indulgence, even if it fhould be found to be more defective than the writer hereof

fent apprehend.

may at

pre

These haughs are seldom of great extent, excepting in level tracts where the water runs with no impetuous current ; and therefore, they may, in general, be preserved, by means of a floping bank raised all along the fide of the river as far as the haugh extends; which, if formed after the fame plan as those described in the laft article, will eafily confine the water within their boundaries, till it rifes fo high as to flow over the top of the bank; fo that, if these are raised to a fufficient height towards the back part, in fuch a

manner

manner as to be capable of containing the whole of the water that at any time flows down the river, the fields on each fide will be effectually secured.

If the surface of the ground in the haugh is at any confiderable height above the water in the river, as at A B, (Fig. 13th,) the bank may perhaps be raised to the neceffary height, by throwing the earth that is taken from the brink of the river at A, (Fig. 14th,) to the other fide of the bank, at B, fo as to form the new furface of the bank in the direction CD, instead of the old furface AB. But, if the furface of the ground is lower, as at EF, (Fig. 13th,) on the oppofite fide of the river, the earth that is taken from the triangle FGH, (Fig. 14th,) will not, in that cafe, be fufficient to fill up the whole triangle GIK, and raise the bank to a proper height: To make up which deficiency, it will be neceffary to dig a ditch KLE, at the back of the bank, throwing the earth into the higher

part

« PreviousContinue »