390 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



There are some soils where even a scanty yield of clover can 

 only be obtained after much trouble and expense ; on these it 

 is best to commence by the cultivation of some plant more par- 

 ticularly suited to such situations. 



In Holland and some parts of Belgium, there are large tracts 

 of sandy moorland, which is now being reclaimed ; on the sea- 

 coast they have what are called " dunes." These are huge 

 rounded sand hills, in some cases two or three hundred feet in 

 height, blown up by the wind from the fine sand of the sea 

 beach. They are constantly changing their shapes, and are, 

 or rather were, steadily advancing inland. A single long con- 

 tinued gale sometimes drove the sand hundreds of feet upon 

 cultivated fields. The appearance of one of these, freshly cov- 

 ered with sand, resembles some of those to be seen on each side 

 of the New Haven and Springfield railway, in Wallingford and 

 North Haven. Every expedient to arrest these moving sands, 

 proved for a long period in vain. At last some one suggested 

 the plan of introducing certain plants able to flourish in such 

 situations. This was tried, and after perseverance for a few 

 years, with great success. I have myself walked over these 

 immense sand heaps, and have seen the surface, even on their 

 exposed and bleak tops, bound together by the tenacious roots 

 of the Arundo Arenaria, a species of reed, and other kindred 

 plants. These roots run forty and fifty feet, sending up a 

 shoot at every joint; and extracting nutriment even from these 

 unpromising and inhospitable sands. When the plants have 

 grown up and died for a few years in succession, a little soil 

 begins to collect ; then, especially in the sheltered hollows, 

 better grasses begin to appear, and finally a tolerable sheep 

 pasture is formed. During the prevalence of the potato disease, 

 the potatoes grown in these hollows are said to have escaped, 

 they were few in number and small, but of fine quality. 



When the land becomes capable, or is so at the beginning, 

 of growing something more than the varieties of reeds just 

 mentioned, another plant is tried with much success. It is 

 called spurry, and has an excellent reputation, both for the bulk 

 of green matter which it produces upon very miserable soils, 

 and for the ease with which it may be cultivated. It grows 



