. RAL'TICAL ARBORICULTURE 171 



CONTROL OF SHIFTING SANDS. 



Having discussed the problem of snowdrifts, and explained the action of 

 winds and the natural laws which govern the deposit of snow in drifts, with 

 especial reference to railway cuts in northern latitudes, we reproduced a 

 picture, showing the double lines of fences on Soldiers Summit, along the 

 line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, in Utah. 



In these instances the practice of erecting and maintaining snow guards 

 or fences becomes a serious expense to railways, because of the tem- 

 porary character of wooden fences, their speedy decay, and the ef- 

 fects of strong winds ; the summer sun being as destructive as the 

 winter's storms. We recommended the use of living hedges in place 

 of the boards, and gave the red cedar as one of the best trees for this purpose. 

 The Juniperus I'irginiana, or cedar, with its various modifications, which char- 

 acterize the tree when grown in different localities and under greatly varying 

 conditions of soil, climate and moisture or aridity, meets all the requirements 

 of a plant for this purpose. In Maine, and on the Hudson River, its habit 

 is to form a tall, slender tree, not unlike Lombardy poplar in shape; while in 

 the mountains of Tennessee, it builds a mammoth trunk, with scraggy, 

 spreading branches. In the Garden of the Gods, at the foot of Pike's Peak, in 

 Colorado, its foliage partakes of the character of the desert sage brush, dif- 

 fering but slightly from the sage in its color. Again, in the arid plains and 

 high altitudes of Xew Mexico, it makes a slow growth, with thick, bunchy 

 foliage, being one of the very few American trees which survive this extreme 

 aridity. Wherever birds deposit the seed of the juniper, after eating the aro- 

 matic berries which are produced in great profusion, the cedar grows,- quite 

 cosmopolitan in its habit. 



The cedar is of slow growth under arid conditions, and requires but little 

 priming to maintain a low-growing hedge, dense enough to break the force 

 of a wind storm, strong-rooted' and powerful to withstand any gales. 



Once planted, the hedge becomes a permanent fixture, ending forever the 

 expense of snow guards, and in almost any locality. 



Quite a different problem confronts the Oregon Rail and Navigation Com- 

 pany along the Columbia River, above The Dalles. The debris brought clown 

 from the mountains by the flood tide of the river consists of a very finely divided 

 light sand. This is deposited along the margin of the stream as the water goes 

 down, there being some forty feet difference between high and low water in 

 the Columbia. The warm sunshine of summer, together with warm breezes, 

 evaporate the moisture from this deposit, and the winds bear it in shore, cov- 



