Seaside Planting 75 



for the wind-swept maritime situation in which they are to 

 be used. For this purpose few plants equal, and certainly 

 none surpass, the Sea Buckthorn (Hippophce rhamnoidet), 

 Tamarisk (Tamarix gallica), the common elder, hazel, white- 

 thorn, and at least three species of willow Salix Capreo, 

 S. helix, and 8. alba. Immediately behind this screen, 

 pits of not less than 2 ft. in diameter and about 18 in. in 

 depth may be formed, and it will be all the better if some 

 time is allowed to elapse before they are planted. The 

 bottom and side of each pit should, where found necessary, 

 be loosed with a pick, and if the soil is found to be of very 

 inferior quality, it will be well, more especially where 

 such can be readily obtained, to add a spadeful or two from 

 some adjoining field. 



Planting should not be commenced before March or April, 

 an early start at growth being much in favour of young 

 trees that have recently been transferred to the sea-coast. 

 The plants to be used should not exceed, say, 12 to 15 in. 

 in height, but of strong growth in proportion to their 

 size, and supplied with an abundance of fibrous roots. 

 Lanky, ill-grown, and coddled plants have but a poor 

 chance of succeeding under such adverse circumstances. 



In planting, keep the strongest roots seaward, and do not 

 place the trees at a greater depth in the soil than that at 

 which they stood whilst in the nursery border. The failure 

 to use this precaution is a mistake, and is productive of 

 anything but favourable results. Immediately behind 

 this raised mound of turf, or the dead fence of branches 

 above described, the best trees for withstanding the first 

 brunt of the sea-breeze are the sycamore, elm, elder, and 

 willow amongst hardwoods, and the Austrian and cluster 

 pines (Pinus austriaca and P. Pinaster), to which might be 

 added P. laricio, P. sylvestris, and P. montana, amongst 

 conifers. These are all well-tried subjects, and may be re- 

 lied upon as peculiarly suited for doing battle with hard- 

 blowing and long-continued storms on the sea-coast. 



Regarding the merits of the cluster pine for seaside 

 planting, it would be almost superfluous for me to speak ; 

 while the elm and sycamore send out their stout branches 



