38 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



11.-1IOW TO STRENGTHEN THE DUNES.* 



By G. BOECK. 



In au article on the formation of the dunes, in No. 33 of the Deutsche 

 Fischerei-Zeitung, the author says in conclusion that, in his opinion — 

 which is shared by many others — " Human power and human art can 

 do nothing or but little to resist the force of the shifting dune." This 

 often-repeated assertion is correct only in so far as it is impossible for 

 human strength to stop a dune while in the process of shifting its*position, 

 but otherwise it is incorrect, and only serves as an excuse for the crude 

 methods and small experience of the owners of dunes. It is contra- 

 dicted by the actual facts. Most of the dunes on our coasts, e. g., on 

 the coast of Pomerania, from Kammin to Kolberg, and on the islands 

 of Usedom and Wollin, were — as recorded in documents of undoubted 

 authenticity — densely wooded centuries ago, oaks forming the predomi- 

 nant tree (many doorsteps, beams, joists, and stairways of old houses 

 in those regions amply testifying to this fact). But even at the present 

 day there are found in different parts of the dunes along our Baltic 

 coast very compact woods entirely secured against being buried in the 

 sand of the dunes. Such woods are found near Eiersberg, near the 

 new mouth of the Kega, on the islands of Usedom and Wollin, &c. 



If any one were to maintain that these woods had been created and sus- 

 tained by nature, without the aid of human ingenuity and human skill, 

 (this seems, at first sight all the more probable, as, owing to the fact that 

 at present man seems to be powerless when brought face to face with 

 the sand of the dunes), people are too ready to suppose that the mag- 

 nificent woods which centuries ago clothed our dunes had only been 

 the work of nature. Unfortunately we possess no data to aid us in 

 answering the question whether our ancestors, nature's children, under- 

 stood, better than we, their civilized descendants, how to plant the dunes 

 with trees. In view of the unchangeable character of the open dunes, 

 we may be justified to suppose that such planting was done in former 

 times, especially as the experience of modern times speaks in favor of 

 this supposition. 



In the official reports on the condition of the forests in Pomerania it 

 is stated that at least till within the past twelve years all the efforts 

 made by the Government to strengthen the loose dunes belonging to the 

 state, and again to clothe them with forests, have proved futile, while 

 similar efforts made by private individuals were crowned with success, 

 as is seen in the Eiersberg forest, east of the mouth of the Liebelose, 

 and several other forests on the islands of Usedom and Wollin. 



*"Ueher Dtinenhefe8tigu)ig," in Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung, Vol. VII, No. 35, Stwttin, 

 August 2G, 1884. Translated from the German by Herman Jacobson. 



