42, FOREST CULTURE AND 
our shores the sand is invading villages, towns, and, 
perhaps, harbors, and as, moreover, Many @ desert 
spot inland may be reclaimed, I would remark that, 
to arrest the waves of the sand, some wickerwork or 
cover of brush is needed on the storm side. Large 
seaweeds help to form such covering. Sods of Me- 
sembryanthemum, to which the unpoetic name of 
‘¢ Pigfaces’’ is here given, and which abounds on our 
coast, should copiously be scattered over the sand- 
ridges; wild cabbage, celery, sea-kale, samphire, New 
Zealand spinach (Tetragonia), chamomile, and various 
clovers and bloom plants should be sown, and creep- 
ing sand-grass (Festuca litoralis, Triticum junceum, 
Buffalo-grass, Agrostis stolonifera), etc., should be 
planted, particulary, also, sand-sedges and sand-rush- 
es, among the best of which are Carex arenaria, and 
here the Sword Rush (Lepidosperma gladiatum ). 
Psoralea pinnata and Rhus typhinum, Prunus mari- 
tima (the Canadian sea-coast plum), Ailanthus gland- 
ulosa, proved also valuable in this respect. As eligi- 
ble, I may add, also, the native couch-grass (Cynodon 
Dactylon), the South African Ehrharta gigantea, the 
European Psamma arenaria, Elymus arenarius (or 
Lyme), even the Live-oak (Quercus virens) ; as also 
another American Oak (Quercus obtusiloba), and the 
Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris), and, perhaps, Poplars, 
some Willows, and, among firs, the Pinus insignis, 
Pinus edulis, P. rigida, and P. Australis. The com- 
mon Brake Fern helps also much to conquer the sand. 
The New Zealand flax covers coasf- sand naturally, 
within the very exposure of the spray.* It is need- 
* Dr, Jam. Hector calculated that in New Zealand an acre of good flax 
land contained about one hundred thousand leaves of the Phormium tenax, 
and yields about ten tons weight of dried leaves; or, if only the outer leaves 
are taken, four tons. The yield of clean fiber is about twenty-three one 
hundredths of the green leaf. 
