DISADVANTAGES FROM UNFAVOURABLE SOIL, ETC. 55 



&c., the object is more securely attained, and at the same time the 

 possibility offered of erecting the rather expensive lines of hurdles 

 somewhat further apart. 



The commencement of operations is, of course, always made from 

 the windward side, that is, in general, from westwards down wind 

 towards the east. 



It may be mentioned that on the island of Seeland very good 

 results were obtained by covering the sand with a thin layer of 

 loamy soil, which is certainly expensive, but much to be recom- 

 mended in the case of bunkers or other small patches particularly 

 exposed to danger. The loam is conveyed in autumn in little 

 heaps to the area to be operated on, and there becomes so acted 

 upon by the frost in winter as to be easily pulverisable in the 

 following spring, when it is scattered in a thin layer over the sand ; 

 during the next few years it binds this to a sufficient extent to 

 permit of Scots Pine, which may be sown or planted out, esta- 

 blishing itself in growth. 



Another means, strongly recommended, of aiding the work of 

 wooding sand-drifts is the use of the Helianthiis tuberosus, a species 

 of tuberculous plant closely allied to the common sun-flower: it 

 makes very little demand in regard to the quality of the soil, 

 grows even on the poor sand-drifts, can easily be reproduced and 

 increased by means of its tubers, from which it throws out in 

 spring long flexible stalks of 7 to 10 feet in height, that sway about 

 in the wind without breaking, and that remain standing through- 

 out the winter. Thus, whilst this plant protects the soil against 

 the wind throughout the whole year, it is also able to protect the 

 seedlings planted out against insolation and drought, and to a 

 certain extent against the action of frost. 



The wooding of the area should at once proceed hand in hand 

 with the binding or fixation of the sand by means of covering with 

 turf or erecting hurdles. The consideration of the most suitable 

 species of trees, and the most suitable method to be adopted in 

 the formation of the young woods, properly belongs to the domain 

 of Sylviculture ; but it may be briefly referred to here for the sake 

 of completeness. 



Scots Pine seems, on the whole, the most suitable species, and 

 the one by far the most generally chosen in such cases, although 

 Birch and Acacia are also capable of thriving on poor sandy soil. 

 When the subsoil is moist, Canadian and Black Poplars, and a few 



