SOME INSTANCES OF SAND DUNE PLANTING 

 Bv C. R. Tiui-oTsoN 

 On my trip during the summer of 1920, I ran across a couple of 

 instances of sand dune planting which it will be well to put on record. 



SAXD DUNK PLANTING, CAPE COD, MASS. 



Near the town of Provincetown, Mass., at the extreme tip of Cape 

 Cod. the State owns ;5.2!)() acres af land all of which will eventually 

 be reforested unless present plans are changed. The soil is a very 

 coarse white sand which supports in protected places a natural growth 

 of pitch pine {Pinus rigida), and in the more moist locations the low 

 bushy bayberry. A considerable amount of reforestation has already 

 been conducted under considerable difficulty. It may be said tha.t 

 during the winter terrific wind velocities are experienced here, and 

 the movement of sand is mostly confined to that period. Up to the 

 present about 400 acres have been set out to pines, largely the pitch 

 l)inc. but a considerable amount of Scotch and Austrian and a little 

 red pine has also been tried. The native pine is dug in the surround- 

 ing territory. Two men dig the trees, two handle them in carts, and 

 two plant. These six men working in this manner handle about 1.000 

 trees per day. The trees are dug so as to leave the sod and earth 

 about one foot square around the roots. Before trees are set out on 

 the land, it is first covered with brush cut from native pine. The cost 

 of cutting raw and covering an acre varies with the distance, but 

 averages about $20 per acre at present when the wages are $3 per day. 

 After this brush rots down the areas are planted with pine with very 

 good success up to the present time. I saw some Austrian pine, set 

 14 years ago, which is now 18 feet high. Scotch pine on a very ex- 

 posed site appears fully as, if not more, vigorous than Austrian pine. 

 Scotch pine set 7 years is about 7 feet high in the more sheltered loca- 

 tions and grades down to about 3 feet on the most exposed situations, 

 such as a northwest slope. On the very top of one such northwest 

 slope Austrian pine is planted, much of which is scrubby. It varies 

 from 2 to 3 to 7 and 8 feet tall. Considering the situation, however, 

 I should say it has done wonderfully well. 



The native bayberry has also been planted extensively on these lands. 

 It is dug in the swamps, transported in carts to the planting areas, 



139 



