190 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



GRASS FOE THE PROTECTION OF SHORES AND HARBOURS. 



Inquiries are frequently made for the seeds of grasses to be grown as binders 

 of shores and sand banks. During July last, information was sought on this sub- 

 ject by Mr. E. T. P. Shewen, resident engineer of the Department of Public Works 

 "at St, John, N.B., Mr. Shewen writes: — 



" August 30. — My object in using the grass is to stop the dry drift of sand which 

 is now filling a harbour. The beach I wish to protect at Cape Traverse is flooded 

 in gales." 



At the time I received the above letter I had neither seed nor plants of the true 

 Beach grass, J.m wop /«7(Z arundinacea,'Rost.,(=Galamagrostis arenaria, B,oih,:=Psamma 

 nrenaria, R. & Sch.), nor could I, although it is a, native of Canada, obtain any from 

 seedsmen or others. In 1890 I received from Mr. John Mather of Ottawa, seeds of 

 that grass and the closely similar Elymus arenarius, L., both imported from Scotland 

 by him for the very purpose desired by Mr. Shewen. Of all the seed sown of both 

 species, only two plants of Elymus arenarius, Sea Lyme grass, grew, and these have 

 increased and spread enormously since they were first put out in 1891. These two 

 grasses are extremely alike in appearance and habit of growth, in fact in everything 

 except their inflorescence. I therefore sent Mr. Shewen in September about 100 sets of 

 this grass and some of the seed. Some time in October I had the pleasure of show- 

 ing Mr. Artemas Howatt of Tryon, Prince Edward Island, over the grass beds and 

 was explaining the uses of the Sea Lyme grass to him, when he told me he was sure 

 it, or a similar grass, grew on the shores of Prince Edward Island. It at once 

 occurred to me that the grass he spoke of might be the Beach grass I had been try- 

 ing to get. He kindly sent me, on his return home, a good supply of the I'oots and 

 some of the seeds from which I saw it was the true Beach grass. 



I at once wrote to Mr. Shewen, and he has corresponded with Mr. Howatt with 

 a view to getting a supply of the grass roots. 



These two grasses mentioned are probably the best varieties for growing for the 

 purpose named, on the sea shore, where the disturbance is sometimes very great. 

 Indeed this disturbance seems to be a necessary factor towards their full development. 

 They will however flourish inland and at localities where they are in noway affected 

 by the sea or its influences, as I have found at Ottawa. On lake and river shores 

 the difterent forms of Agropyrum repens, L., (Quack, Couch, Scutch, etc.) 

 may be grown, or the Holy grass (also called " Indian Hay " and " Yanilla 

 Grass," Hierochloa borealis, R. & S.). A trial might also be made with the new fodder 

 grass, Bromus inermis, Leyss, (Awnless or Austrian Brome grass). When it can be 

 obtained, however, it is probable that the true Beach grass (Ammophila arundinncea) 

 is the best of all for protecting harbours, and after that the Sand Lyme Grass 

 (Elymus arenarius'). 



The following extract from Sowerby's English Botany, will show the great 

 value of this grass for the purpose recommended: "This grass is known as Mat 

 grass or Murram. Dr. Prior says, the latter name is derived from the Gaelic muram 

 or the Danish marhalm, sea haulm or straw. Its value as a natural sand-binder 

 cannot be overrated ; many thousand acres, on various parts of our coast, are 

 preserved from being overwhelmed by the drifting sand by means of its agency. In 

 the latter part of the last century a large district on the eastern side of Scotland, 

 near the Moray Firth, was completely destroyed and rendered in a few years as 

 desert as the Sahara by the advance of the sand from the shore, owing to the wanton 

 destruction of the Murram that grew upon it. This grass, therefore, when found 

 growing on sandy shores, should always be carefully preserved by proprietors of 

 land. Acts of Parliament have been passed to protect it, which are but little attended 

 to; and in Holland it is said that its destruction is a penal offence. The strong 

 underground stems, which render it so valuable as a protection against the action 

 of the wind and waves, are capable of being made into ropes ; and people near the 

 coast often plait them into mats, whence one of the common names of the grass. 

 Professor Buckman says: ' We have exhumed rhizomata of this grass several feet 



