Up till 1862, all the material dredged from the river Clyde and harbour of Glasgow was loaded on punts holding eight cubic yards, and deposited on the alveus or foreshores, or the low-lying land adjoining the river. Many acres were thus reclaimed, to the great gain of the riparian proprietors, to whom the Trustees required to hand over the ground free of cost. The adoption of steam hopper barges, holding from 240 to 320 cubic yards each, removed these obstacles, and enabled the deepening, widening, and straightening of the river and harbour to be proceeded with more rapidly, without seriously obstructing the navigation with steam tugs and trains of punts. The result has been that while in 1861 the total quantity dredged and deposited on land was 593,176 cubic yards, the total quantity dredged in 1887 was 1,319,344 cubic yards, only 64,000 cubic yards of which was deposited on land. The total quantity dredged during the forty-two years ending 1888 amounted to 32,027,834 cubic yards, the quantity in the first twenty-one years being 9,091,544 cubic yards, and in the last twenty-one years, 22,936,290 cubic yards. In 1755, the Clyde at Glasgow was only 15 in. deep at low water, and 3 ft 8 in. at high water, while the depth at Marlinford, three miles below the harbour, was 18 in., and at Erskine, or Kilpatrick Sands, about eight miles below, and at Dumbuck Ford, ten miles below, only 2 ft. at low water. In 1781, the depth at Dumbuck Ford was 14 ft. at low water; it is now 20 ft. In 1806, Telford reports that on February 14th of that year the _Harmony_, of Liverpool, came up with ordinary spring tide, drawing 8 ft. 6 in. of water; but up till 1812, the river from the harbour downwards to Bowling was so shallow, that the _Comet_ required to leave Glasgow and Greenock, respectively, at or near high water to prevent it grounding in the river. Now, vessels drawing 23 and 24 ft. of water pass up the river almost daily. The Clyde Trust, who are charged with the control of the river, had expended thereon, up to the middle of 1887, upwards of eleven and a half millions sterling, and had, besides, contracted a debt of over four and a half millions. The accompanying diagram will show the depths of the channel in Glasgow harbour at different dates, but the whole of the river has been dredged constantly from that city down to Port Glasgow, a distance of nearly twenty miles, and the bed of the river between these points is now virtually level throughout. [Illustration: DEPTH OF THE CLYDE AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.] The shipping industry has, in consequence, enormously increased. In 1888, 8428 vessels, of 1,891,000 tons, entered, and 8053 vessels, of 1,444,000 tons, cleared from Glasgow in the coasting trade; while the total number of all vessels that entered in the same year was 8217, with 2,416,000 tons register, the clearances being 8738 vessels, with 2,787,000 tons. THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL.