SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



marshes one cannot be lonely, if the sense of 

 their beauty is in the heart. 



As in the sand dunes, so here in the marshes 

 one's enjoyment of the beauty of the sur- 

 roundings is not impaired but rather en- 

 hanced by an intimate knowledge of the life 

 there. It is well worth while to study first 

 the vegetation which plainly groups itself into 

 four zones. Fortunately for the unbotanical, 

 the hostile power of salt is such that it makes 

 friends with but few plants, and these are 

 easily learned. Lanier doubtless did not refer 

 to botanical simplicity when he said: 



" Ye marshes, how candid and simple 

 And nothing-withholding and free, 

 Ye publish yourselves to the sky and offer 

 Yourselves to the sea! " 



but they are good lines and will do here. 



The lowest zone of all from the point of 

 view of sea level is the zone of eel grass, a 

 plant which belies its name and station, for 

 it is not a grass nor even a seaweed, as is often 

 supposed, and is not lowly, but is a member, 

 albeit a humble one, of the lofty group of flow- 

 ering plants, where it is placed above the pines 



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