THE PLANTING OF THE SAND DUNES AT CULBIN. 25 



the westward side show the effects of the prevaiHng winds. 

 Individual trees are often attacked by the pine rust, Feridennium 

 pint, and also by Retinia resinella. A small area of these dunes 

 was planted with a mixture of Scots and Corsican pine in 1903. 

 The Corsican pine has, here, completely surpassed the Scots 

 pine in height and girth. It has also beaten the Corsican pine 

 planted on the low ground in 190S. The success of this species 

 seems to be due to its adaptability for growing on sand and to 

 its power of resisting wind. The trees develop very stout stems 

 at an early age, and their tap roots are quickly replaced by long 

 radiating side roots which resemble the underground stems of 

 the Marram grass, as they run through the sand some 6 inches 

 below the surface. On a plant 7 to 8 years old, three or four 

 such roots, each about 15 feet in length, are commonly found. 

 They give the plants an excellent hold of the sand. As regards 

 the timber formed, it seems to me that it gives promise of being 

 cleaner and freer from knots than the timber the Scots pine 

 produces in the same situation. The latter species is apt to 

 become very branchy when growing in soils consisting almost 

 entirely of pure sand. The Corsican pines at Culbin, unlike the 

 Scots pines, do not show any sign of developing this objection- 

 able feature, the branches remaining comparatively small. It is 

 further interesting to note that the younger branches of the 

 Corsican pine are remarkably succulent in spite of the difficulties 

 they must have in obtaining moisture, while in the case of the 

 Scots pine they are dry and brittle. 



After carrying out these experiments on the lesser dunes and 

 Hat areas. Major Chadwick extended his operations to the large 

 sand-hills on the north. As these sand-hills are, to begin with, 

 quite bare of any covering, it is specially necessary to see that 

 the sand is properly fixed before carrying out any planting. 

 First of all, the sands for some distance to the west of where it is 

 proposed to plant are fixed with Marram grass. The grass is 

 transplanted from places where it is growing thickly. As it 

 \ possesses great vitality, much care need not be taken in the 

 '^operation. It is simply inserted in holes made in the sand, 

 when it quickly produces long runners and spreads rapidly. In 

 the area where the planting is to take place, spruce branches are 

 laid down with their ends inserted in the sand on the windward 

 side. Recently, about three hundred loads of spruce brushwood 

 were carted on to these large sand-hills. The carting is done 



