686 PROTECTION AGAINST SHIFTING SAND. 



At Lingen, in Hannover, work has been carried out gradually 

 since 1818, when there were 3,327 acres to be stocked, of which 

 75 per cent, was shifting sand, and the balance cultivated land. 

 Between 1818 and 1832, 2,279 acres had been planted success- 

 fully, and the balance of 1,048 acres was fairly well stocked by 

 1837, the total cost, up to 1832, being 1 IBs. an acre. 



Forests on shifting sand must be managed most carefully. 

 Pines are regenerated under the Selection or Strip systems, 

 and broadleaved species by coppice. No pasture or removal 

 of litter can be allowed. 



An interesting account of the planting of shifting sands 

 near Dresden, in Saxony, written in 1894 by Mr. A. M. Eeuther, 

 Conservator of Forests, India, is here appended. 



" A considerable area situated within the Dresden Forest 

 Circle has for many years been leased by the Military 

 Department with the object of providing parade-grounds for 

 the cavalry and infantry regiments stationed there. In 1867, 

 it was decided to extend the parade-grounds, for which purpose 

 a further area of 100 hectares was included in the lease ; and, 

 in order to obviate payment of compensation, the Military 

 Department allowed the tree- stumps to be extracted, and the 

 litter to be removed from this area after the forest on it had 

 been clear-felled. 



"The surface configuration of this area is undulating, and the 

 soil consists mostly of pure sand, containing here and there an 

 admixture of clay, up to 18 or 19 per cent. Very soon after 

 the complete exposure of the soil, the sandy surface began to 

 grow unstable, and already in 1870 the shifting sand, moved 

 by the wind, covered not only the adjacent cavalry parade- 

 ground, but also blocked the more distant Konigsbrlicker 

 Chausse"e to such an extent as to interrupt all traffic on it. In 

 the next few years the evil assumed such large proportions 

 that it was found absolutely necessary to reaft'orest the area 

 with the least possible delay. 



" Operations were commenced in 1874 by covering the whole 

 area with a network of wattled fencing. Strong stakes, 3 to 

 4 inches in diameter, were driven into the ground 2 feet apart, 

 in rows 1 chain apart running south to north, and interwoven 

 with branches of Scots pine, the wattled fencing thus formed 



