566 



Illustrated Citnadian Forestry Magazine, December, icj20 



Reforestation on Shifting Sand 



^y JlrthuT Herbert %ichardsoT}, JHC.jl., ^M.F., 

 Ontario Forestry ^ranch, 'Uoronto 



One of the most useful jturposes for 

 whicli reforestation may be undertaken, 

 is that of ])reventin^- sliiftint^ sand from 

 becomin.i^ a menace to the cro]) profhic- 

 ing- sections of the farm. Jn many parts 

 of Ontario this has been tried out so that 

 such work is now well beyond the stage 

 of experimentation. 



Three illustrations of the necessity of 

 such work have come to the notice of the 

 writer duriui^ the past month. The first 

 is in Renfrew county where many farms 

 border on the Ottawa river, or on lakes 

 formed by its widening. On one of these 

 farms bordering a lake four miles in 

 width, there is a linger shaped ridge of 

 sand, which, not only is useless as re- 

 gards agriculture, but which also threat- 

 ens to make useless the good land nearby. 

 At one time this area was covered with 

 large pine which the owner, thinking only 

 of prompt returns, had clean cut, thereby 

 removing the vegetation which had kept 

 the sand in a staple condition. The only 

 record now of what was once a splendid 

 pinery is a few large stumps stand- 

 ing, as it were, on stilts above the sur- 

 face of the sand. Good soil lies on either 

 side of the ridge, but that which is on 

 the leeward side is being covered continu- 

 ally with sand. Consequently, in order 

 to repair the loss to this farm, which fool- 

 ishly was created by the one who stripped 

 the sand portions of its tree growth, one 

 thing only can be done ; namely, replant 

 the area with trees, which was the crop it 

 was intended to grow. This is what the 

 farmers in that part of Renfrew are do- 

 ing, with the result that in a few years 

 such trouble will have ceased for good. 



A Barrier of Trees. 

 In Grenville county a section of a man's 

 farm had been denuded similarly of 

 forest growth, and an area of approxi- 

 mately two acres was in a continual state 

 of flux and slowly but surely was being 

 moved toward the better part of his farm. 

 One whole acre of sand had been moved 

 literally a quarter of a mile from its origi- 



A stand of Scotch pine planted in 1908, photo- 

 graphed in 1920. These trees, now averaging 20 

 feet high, were originally placed on a farm in Gren- 

 ville County, Ontario, to stop the onward sweep of 

 sand dunes, and have splendidly accomplished their 

 task. 



nal position. The owner of this farm 

 was enterprising enough to plant trees 

 on this area and thus retard the work of 

 nature and save the more valuable soil 

 from sand inundation. 



The third illustration is also in Gren- 

 ville Co. and was set out for the same rea- 

 son as the foregoing. This plantation is 

 also one of the oldest in the province and 

 shows what may be expected of planta- 

 tions after being set out for a few years. 

 The accompanying photograph was taken 

 in a section of the stand which was plant- 

 ed with scotch pine. It shows the re- 

 markable growth which this species will 

 make on pure quartz sand. With a little 

 play of the imagination one can easily 

 suppose that this potential forest is much 

 older than it really is. The trees shown 

 were planted in 1908. and consequently 

 are now nearing the completion of their 

 thirteenth growing season after planting. 

 They are approximately five feet apart 



