630 PROTECTION AGAINST SHIFTING SAND. 



In India, along the Madras coast, extensive plantations of 

 C a marina equisetifolia, Forster, have been made, and grow 

 with extraordinary rapidity, yielding excellent fuel. 



In the Cape Colony, shifting sands are sown with cluster 

 pine and Acacia Pycnantlia and decurrens, the seed being mixed 

 with rye seed/ as the rye protects the seedlings. A layer of 

 town refuse is first spread over the sand to assist in fixing it 

 and serve as manure, ten tons to three acres of sand. 

 Guprcssus macrocarpa, Gord., and Pinus Halepensis, Mill., do 

 well, also robinia. 



SECTION II. INLAND SAND.* 

 1. Description. 



Inland sandy tracts generally originate from sandy hills, and 

 are due chiefly to the clearance or careless management of 

 forests, and especially to removal of litter. Extensive sheep 

 pasture on heather-land also readily sets sand in motion. 

 Large tracts of shifting sands are found in Hannover, 

 Oldenburg, Pommerania, etc. The greatest areas in Europe 

 of inland shifting sand are, however, in Hungary and South 

 Eussia. 



2. Protective Rules. 



Maintenance of forests, especially on sandy hills, is the chief 

 protective measure to be adopted. Not only must clearances of 

 forests be prevented, but all destructive practices leading to 

 their impoverishment must be stopped. 



The following measures should be adopted in forests which 

 serve as a protection against shifting sand : 



(a) The Selection system should be adopted, or only very 

 small areas under a short rotation be cleared. Extensive 

 clearings must be avoided in any case, but the shelter-wood 

 systems with natural regeneration would be suitable were it 

 always possible to obtain natural regeneration on dry, sandy 

 areas. In the Gascon cluster : pine forests, clear-cutting is 

 adopted, as the trees that form the final crop, being tapped 

 for resin, do not produce seed. The pine seed is, however, 



* Burkhardt, Dr. H., " Zur Kultur des Flugsandes," "Aus dem Waldc," 1877, 

 p. 167. 



