Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1898 — HOLLAND’S SEA FIGHT. [ARTICLE]

HOLLAND’S SEA FIGHT.

Heavy Dikes Which Are Built by the Winds Themselves. Appreciating the fact that the high chalk cliffs of England are no protection agadnst the Dutch engineers ddd not attempt to place an artificial vertical wall against the waves and the storm tides, but coaxed the sea to deposit hs sands on the shore and so build it up, rather than throw them inland, and then, hungry for more, eat into the shore. They believed it beat to satisfy its appetite, but induced It to toy with the sands which its own flood-currents and waves bring from other shores and from the offing depths. The sand thus dei>osited blows, In the gales, over the inland country. The engineers induced it to jjtop and build a barrier for them against the sea. One of the heaviest dikes along the coast was built by the winds themselves. yhe sand formed between the jetties becomes dry in sunny weather, and the surface is blown ashore when the wind is In that direction. It was desired to build a strong dike to connect with the sand dunes. This w-as accomplished by setting in the sand in rows aibout a foot apart tufts or dune sea grass near by. The tufts were placed about a foot apart— simply little handfuls of gross. The place for each tuft was dug out with the bauds, the tuft set into it and the sand pressed against it. The whole surface of the dry, sandy beach above high tide was covered “with this plantation, and just back of tt, at the highest point of the existing sandy area, one or two rows of reeds were set into the sand, their tops cut off, and the stalks left standing aibout four feet above the sand. The sand, drifting along over the surface, catches and In one windy day will almost bury the tufts of grass and stand up a foot along the rows of reeds. Then another plantation was ma<Jo, and another, until a massive dike was built up to the height of the adjoining dike. In high storm tides the waves will eait into the toe of the slope and pull down the sand, but by the same process of building the dike Is again restored to its former size.—Engineering Magazine. Garlic came from Asia and has been used since the earliest times. It formed part of thd diet of the Israelites in Egypt, was used by Greek and Roman soldiers and African peasants.