28 
by 24 ft. of water at ordinary high tides, but its growth appears 
to be checked nearly completely if the depth exceeds 3 ft., whilst 
in shallower waters nearer the land it will put up with every 
hardship. Hitherto the growth of this particular species in 
England has been in quiet waters away from strong tides and the 
beating of heavy waves, and it may prove that such backwaters 
and river estuaries are its abiding home. 
It will thus be evident that a plentiful growth of Spartina 
T'ownsendi on a bare expanse of: soft mud daily ‘vastien by a 
moderate tide is capable of converting quickly such mud-flats 
into dry land and raising them above the level of ordinary tides. 
Should it prove capable of doing similar useful work in the 
presence of strong tides, a great help will have been obtained 
to check the constant washing away of muddy shores, and the 
growth of the grass would in course of time form a raised barrier 
protecting the adjoining earth-banks from erosion by the waves. 
This is the experiment that is being tried on the coast about 
three miles south-west of Clevedon, North Somerset, and there 
Spartina Townsendi has been deliberately planted to test whether 
it be possible to overcome the strong tidal currents of the Severn, 
and the very heavy waves which beat upon the shore whenever 
the prevalent south-west winds blow strongly. 
Special visits have been made to the spot this autumn to 
examine the results, and it is very interesting to find that the 
grass appears to have established itself with success, although 
the conditions are so different from those of the quiet estuaries 
of the English Channel. 
It may be well to mention a few particulars of the conditions 
prevailing on the land below Clevedon between the estuaries of 
the rivers Kenn and Yeo, and the accompanying map will make 
these clear. 
Inland there are fields (F), approached by a lane, protected by 
two lines of sea banks (O, I), the two barriers being built to 
make sure that if the front one is broken through by the force 
of the strong waves that beat in at that particular part, the water 
shall not be free to flood hundreds of acres of grassland that lie 
behind at only a few feet above the level of high-water mark. 
Outside the front sea-bank is a flat stretch of grassland, called 
saltings or salt-marshes (E), in parts raised some 20 ft. straight 
up above the mud, and in others much less: very narrow in their 
width, and constantly becoming narrower by the erosion of the 
t, it looks as if all this salting would 
have disappeared by this time had not the authorities put in 
_ Seaward there is a stretch of soft sti 
in width, extending to low-water mark, and the 
it would grow 
waves 
