SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



May the beauty and charm of these flowers 

 long be " wasted on the earth and sky," and 

 not ruthlessly plucked and exterminated from 

 this region! 



The trees of the dunes remain to be enu- 

 merated. The most important tree is the pitch 

 pine, which forms two groves of several acres 

 in extent, both of which have spread consid- 

 erably in the last twenty years. Mr. C. J. 

 Maynard tells me that forty years ago not only 

 were there no pines, but no large clumps of 

 bushes to be found in the dunes. One of these 

 pine groves, as we have already seen, is being 

 overwhelmed by a sand wave from the north, 

 but is more than making up for this by its 

 extension to the south. The trees are some- 

 what stunted and rarely reach a height of 

 more than thirty feet, but their thick groves 

 are a welcome refuge in storms for bird and 

 man alike. I have often cooked my dinner in 

 comfort in the lee of these trees when in the 

 open dunes the wind and sand cut like a knife 

 and the frost was severe. 



In addition to the pines there are several 

 thickets of graceful white birches whose 

 height is carefully regulated by that of the 

 encircling dunes, and the wind that sweeps 



84 



