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up of the land was a slow process, considered from the stand- 

 point of human events ; so slow that when any portion became 

 permanently established as dry land the growth of vegetation 

 could and did readily keep pace with the growth of the land. 

 As the spits extended the several plant formations kept pace 

 with them, secured footholds and prevented any extensive 

 drifting of the sand. In this way a permanent growth was 

 gradually established, consisting of the species which were 

 in existence on the original land, and as long as these condi- 

 tions continued no extensive bare or barren areas could be 

 formed either by constructive or destructive forces. Any 

 interference with this growth, however, such as by cutting or 

 burning, would at once expose the sand to wind action, and 

 the destruction would be both direct and indirect: directly 

 from the cutting or burning, indirectly by reason of the sand 

 drifting from the denuded areas and smothering vegetation 

 elsewhere. The work of nature would thus have to begin 

 all over again and in connection with areas generally far 

 greater in extent than existed at any previous period. Such 

 are the conditions at Provincetown, and there can hardly be 

 any question that the principal trouble there, from drifting 

 sand, is directly traceable to the areas denuded by man of 

 their former natural covering, and not to the recently formed 

 beaches or other naturally naked areas. 



It should also be remembered that when any species becomes 

 extinct in a region where changes in environment are taking 

 place, as has been the case throughout the entire extent of 

 Cape Cod, its subsequent reestablishment under the changed 

 conditions may be exceedingly difficult or impossible, and this 

 is the obvious explanation of the limited number of species in 

 the flora of Provincetown at the present time. 



Further than this, one point which has apparently escaped 

 attention in the work of re-foresting merits careful considera- 

 tion. In the desire to produce immediate results and to at- 

 tack the most obvious sources of danger first, the work is 

 really proceeding in a direction more or less contrary to that 

 of nature. Under natural conditions the primary region in 



