EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



397 



by early cultivation and later abandoned. Many instances were noted 

 where traveling dunes have encroached upon orchards. In some cases 

 these orchards of full grown trees were either partially or completely 

 buried. In one place in Berrien County a break was caused by a twenty 

 foot road which had been cut over the dune. Through this narrow open- 

 ing in the timber erosion began by cutting away a clean channel or 

 "slide" until a sweep several rods wide had been eroded clean. This 

 dune was traveling rapidly, estimated at the rate of ten to fifteen feet a 



Fig. G. The planting ou Creeping Joe at Manistee as done by tlie Government in 1902 

 Poplar was successfully established, a dead cover laid, and grass planted to hold the sand. 



Blocks were thus well handled but the fault lay in that no permanent planting was followed 



up. 



year. In this instance a small amount of care and slight expense in 

 planting would have controlled the situation, where now it will re- 

 quire a considerable amount of both time and money before control can 

 be affected. Fig. 5. shows a portion of this traveling dune, taken from 

 the lee or back side. 



Owing to the fact that wind is capable of moving only the dry sand 

 grains, and to the further fact that Michigan has a humid climate it be- 

 comes possible with care to reestablish the broken or traveling dunes and 

 to permanently control the new ones. The State and the individual have 

 both contributed to the conditions of sand erosion. Thousands of acres 

 of land now lie a total waste, which may produce timber. The dunes 

 annually bury or threaten to bury much valuable property if not con- 

 trolled. The protection of property' now entails heavy outlays of money. 

 The railroads and public highways spend enormous sums in clearing 

 tracks and in construction of temporary barrier fences against these sand 

 encroachments. Much of the fighting is now being done in such a way 

 that it must be done over and over yearly — viz : on the leeward side 

 where the freshly blown sand falls. The work should be begun at the 



