ATLANTIC COAST. 13 



roots were ol)tained for tr{in8plaiiting- in order that a eareful study of 

 the plants might l)e made under cultivation to demonstrate if possible 

 the practicability of their general use. 



REVIEW OF THE FIELD WORK BY REGIONS. 

 ATLANTIC COAST. 



Besides forage problems the Division was charged with the investi- 

 gfation of grasses as soil and sand l)inders. The extensive areas of 

 shifting sands along' the Atlantic coast have for man}^ years atti'acted 

 attention and led to efforts to devise some means of holding them. 

 Besides the interference with navigation f requenty caused by the shift- 

 ing of these sands there is a continual destruction of the agricultural 

 lands bordering the coast by the gradual encroachment of the drifting 

 sand. Investigations along this line have been made on the coast 

 near Provincetown, jNIass. on Cape Cod, where there are extensive 

 areas of shifting sands, and experiments in growing and transplanting 

 sand-binding grasses have been carried on (PI. I). The beach grass 

 {Ammophila arenarid) which is native along the Atlantic coast has 

 been very useful in preventing the drifting of the sand and has been 

 transplanted over quite extensive areas on Cape Cod under the author- 

 ity of the State of Massachusetts (PL II). Investigation of the native 

 sand-binding grasses has also been made at various other points along 

 the Atlantic coast, and it has been found that there are a number of 

 very valuable native grasses which act as sand binders. Besides the 

 beach grass, which is not indigenous south of Virginia, there is the 

 sand rj^e-grass [Elymus arenarlus)^ occurring from Massachusetts 

 northward: the bitter panic {Paniciivi o/marurn)^ extending from Con- 

 necticut south along the Atlantic and Gulf coast, and sea oats ( Uniola 

 panieidata)^ another important sand binder occurring from Virginia 

 southward and along the Gulf coast. Experiments have demonstrated 

 that these grasses can be readil}^ transplanted and very successfully 

 used in preventing the drifting of the sands. Besides the transplanting 

 of roots of sand-binding grasses large quantities of seed, especially of 

 the beach grass, have been secured from Provincetown, Mass., for 

 distribution and trial at various points, not onl}' along the seacoast l)ut 

 also along the shores of the Great Lakes where similar trouble is 

 caused by the shifting sand. The Chief of the Division has investi- 

 gated the question of sand binders at several points on the Maine 

 coast; at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and also in the vicinity of Charles- 

 ton, S. C, and Savannah, Ga., where, at the request of the War 

 Department, experiments were vuidertaken in preventing the shifting 

 of sand in the vicinity of the fortifications. 



Mr. Allen Scriljner did held work on Cape Cod, collecting a large 



