FOREST CONDITIONS IN DELAWARE. 51 



trees. Open, scrubby thickets of pine are thus formed by natural seed- 

 ing in spots on the bar. The trees are kept stunted by severe, salt- 

 laden east winds which in winter kill all the needles on the exposed side 

 of the tree. However, where the stand is sufficiently thick, as it is in 

 the Rehoboth Town Woodlot, only the outer fringe of trees is kept 

 stunted while inside the stand the trees attain good development. (See 

 figure 9.) 





Fig. 7. Henlopen dune encroaching inland, gradually burying a loblolly pine thicket. 



Establishing Forests on the Sand-bar 



The desirability of having as much as possible of the area of the 

 sand-bar in forest is unquestionable. The chief advantages would be 

 the production of timber on otherwise waste land, the seashore render- 

 ed more fixed and secure, and the force and sweep of ocean winds les- 

 sened. As a place for summer resorts, for which the bar is chiefly of 

 any value, it would be incomparably better if covered with groves of 



