50 CULTURE OF BEACH GRASS. 



This grass is very generally diffused 

 on sea-coasts over the world, and is 

 found inland on the shores of Lake Su- 

 perior. It has also been cultivated by 

 way of experiment, and with success, 

 on the sands at Lowell, Massachusetts, 

 and still further up on the banks of the 

 Merriraack River. Though not culti- 

 vated for agricultural purposes, it is of 

 great value in protecting sandy beaches. 

 It is preserved in England and Scot- 

 land by act of parliament. Flowers in 

 August. 



In the year 1853, 1 was requested by 

 the late T. W. Harris to make this grass 

 a special study, in the course of my ob- 

 servations ; and since that time I have 

 tried, by personal inquiries and by cor- 

 respondence, to collect whatever there 

 might be of interest in relation to it. 

 As it is of national importance in pro- 

 tecting our sandy coasts, some account 

 of its culture may not be inappropriate 

 or uninteresting. 



The town of Provincetown, once 

 called Cape Cod, where the Pilgrims 

 first landed, and its harbor, still called 

 the harbor of Cape Cod, one of the 

 best and most important in the United 

 States, sufficient in depth for ships 

 Fig. 34. Beach Grass, of the largest size, and in extent to 

 anchor three thousand vessels at once, owe their pres- 

 ervation to this grass. To an inhabitant of an inland 

 country, it is difficult to conceive the extent and the 

 violence with which the sands at the extremity of Cape 



