PRACTICAL FOEESTEY. 



loam, and seems to delight in the ozone of the seaside 

 atmosphere. 



Both the Portugal Laurel (Primus lusitanica) and Sweet- 

 Bay (Laurus nobilis) are valuable evergreen shrubs for sea- 

 side planting. They afford, from their large size and compact 

 habit, a great amount of shelter. 



The Common Holly (Ilex aquifolium) and its golden form 

 both do well at the seaside, which may also be said of the 

 ommon and Scotch Laburnums. They may be used 

 with best advantage wherever the direct force of the blast is 

 broken up. 



The Common Gorse (Ulex europceus) and the Broom 

 (Cytisus scoparius) should on no account be omitted from 

 our list of shrubs that are valuable for maritime wastes 

 where the wind exerts its full power. 



The above shrubs include all that can be recommended 

 for planting along the sea coast, but where good shelter is 

 afforded by the trees named in this chapter, a few others 

 might be recommended for trial. These include the 

 Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedd) Euonymus japonicus, 

 Berberis Darwinii, Ligustrum Ovalifolium, Daphne Meze- 

 reon, and D. laureola, Ruscus aculeatus, Hypericum caly- 

 cinum, Vinca major and V. minor, and several kinds of 

 Thorn. 



The Maram, or Sea Matweed (Psamma arenarid] is one 

 of the most useful grasses with which I am acquainted for 

 binding shifting sands on the sea coast. Not only so, but 

 by using it as a pioneer, the amount of shelter it affords 

 renders other more difficult subjects by no means hard to 

 cultivate. It usually attains to from 2 ft. to 2J ft. in height, 

 much depending on the situation, whether it is partially 

 sheltered or fully exposed. The root-stock creeps widely, 

 some specimens that have been followed up in the sand 

 being of the amazing length of 35 yards. Amongst loose 

 and drifting sand the running roots find what is most 

 suitable for the welfare of the plant, and it is astonishing 

 with what persistency they bind in an unusually short space 

 of time these shifting hills of almost dust-dry sand. In 

 planting, place the plants in parallel lines, about 16 in. 



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