596 TREES SUITED TO DUNE PLANTATIONS. 
began in 1795, under Séren Bjorn, a native of Denmark, and, 
with the exception of the ten years between 1807 and 1817, 
they have been prosecuted ever since. The methods do not 
differ essentially from those employed in Denmark and France, 
though they are modified by local circumstances, and, with 
respect to the trees selected for planting, by climate. In 1850, 
between the mouth of the Vistula and Kahlberg, 6,500 acres, 
including about 1,900 acres planted with pines and birches, 
had been secured from drifting; between Kahlberg and the 
eastern boundary of West Prussia, 8,000 acres; and important 
preliminary operations had been carried on for subduing the 
dunes on the west coast.* 
The tree which has been found to thrive best upon the 
sand-hills of the French coast, and at the same time to confine 
the sand most firmly and yield the largest pecuniary returns, 
is the maritime pine, Pinus maritima, a species valuable both 
for its timber and for its resinous products. It is always grown 
from seed, and the young shoots require to be protected for 
several seasons, by the branches of other trees, planted in rows, 
or spread over the surface and staked down, by the growth of 
the Arundo arenaria and other small sand-plants, or by wat- 
tled hedges. The beach, from which the sand is derived, has 
been generally planted with the arundo, because the pine does 
not thrive well so near the sea; but it is thought that a species 
of tamarisk is likely to succeed in that latitude even better 
than the arundo. The shade and the protection offered by the 
branching top of this pine are favorable to the growth of decid- 
uous trees, and, while still young, of shrubs and smaller plants, 
which contribute more rapidly to the formation of vegetable 
mould, and thus, when the pine has once taken root, the re- 
demption of the waste is considered as effectually secured. 
In France, the maritime pine is planted on the sands of the 
only the salvation of the department, but constitute its wealth.”—CLAVE, 
Etudes Forestiéres, p. 254. 
Other authors have stated the plantations of the French dunes to be much 
more extensive. 
* Kruse, Diinenbau, pp. 34, 38, 40. 
