37 



wind by allowing it to pass through these openings. As the 

 paling is covered by the sands the planks are raised one at a 

 time. A movable frame with a long lever mounted on run- 

 ners, so that it can be slid along the top of the fence, and 

 having pinchers or a clamp and chain, is easily carried and 

 operated by one man. 



The total cost of planting and protecting the pines has some- 

 times been as much as $40 per acre. The timber of this plan- 

 tation has long been a source of profit, affording both resin and 

 wood. France now draws an annual revenue of 130,000 francs 

 from the resinous products of these forests. But in this case 

 the greater profit comes from the consequent protection of the 

 adjoining country from the encroaching sands, which had for- 

 merly sterilized fertile regions and buried thriving villages. 

 M. Samanos says that " in all France nearly one million acres 

 (400,000 hectares) of desolate land, supposed to be doomed to 

 everlasting sterility, have been reclaimed, and these savage des- 

 erts are now stocked with maritime pines which will become 

 for the country a fruitful source of wealth, and supply some 

 day the wants of the whole of France." 



A liberal appropriation is now made annually for the con- 

 tinuance of this work. The whole extent of dunes in France 

 that remains to be planted is nearly 80,000 hectares, or about 

 200,000 acres. A small subsidy is given by the State to those 

 who own and plant them, but most of this land belongs to the 

 State and is managed entirely by the Forest department. 



These successful experiments, conducted on so broad a scale 

 and for so long a period, clearly prove the practicability of 

 arresting and utilizing sand drifts by the plantation of trees. 

 What has been done abroad on the most unpromising beach 

 sands may surely be accomplished under the more favorable 

 conditions of our Atlantic barrens, not necessarily by planting 

 the same trees or by the same methods, but by those plans 

 which a study of the local climate and conditions in each case 

 will suggest. The young plants in France have been sheltered 

 at the outset by sowing with the pine seeds certain hardy 

 weeds, herbs and grasses like the yellow lupin, which gave a 

 temporary shade and protection, and by their decay helped 

 somewhat to enrich the soil. Some arborists affirm that oats 



