140 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sand. The Harbor and Land Commissioners of your State have 

 undertaken to further check the drifting of these sands by 

 transphxnting Beach grass to the most exposed points, where 

 presumably it will be most effective. The setting out of the 

 Beach grass was undertaken in May last, and when I saw the 

 plantations, in August, the operation was perfectly successful, 

 and the best results may be confidently expected. This grass is 

 the most valuable sand binder of ou.r coast, and it should be 

 made use of more than it is. We do not need to import the 

 seeds of it, as has been done, nor do we need to depend upon 

 seeds for propagation. The simplest way, and at the same time 

 the most certain means of propagation as well as the cheapest in 

 the end, is that of transplanting, Avhich may be done in the 

 spring, or in some localities doubtless in fall.' There is hardly 

 any section along the seashore where Beach grass could not be 

 used to advantage ; if it does not exist near by, it may be readily 

 and cheaply obtained. For the binding of embankments, where 

 there is a proportion of good soil. Couch or Witch grass is avail- 

 able. If a good turf is desired, there is nothing better than 

 Kentucky Blue grass, better known in New England as June 

 grass. 



There are in Massachusetts about sixty thousand acres of salt 

 marsh, and it may be of interest to stop a moment to consider 

 the plants that enter into the composition of the hay which 

 these marshes afford. These salt grasses are the natural product 



iThe following letter from Mr. L. W. Ross is of interest in this connection : 



Boston, Mass., March 30, 1896. 

 Prof. F. Lamson-Scribner, Washingtoyi, D.C. : 



Dear Sir : Agreeably to your request when T met you in Boston, I will say that I visited 

 the Province lands at Provincetown, Mass., on March 25 and 26. 



The plantings of Ammophila arundinacea which you saw last summer have proved a 

 complete success. The winter has been an unusually windy and tempestuous one. Not- 

 withstanding this, however, the plants have held the sand on the area planted securely in 

 place and no " breaks " or " blow-outs " have appeared, to require any attention on the part 

 of our Superintendent during the winter. This I consider somewhat remarkable, for we 

 expected portions of it to be blown away. The whipping of the grass by the winds has 

 broken off and blown away approximately about one-half of the bulk of grass above ground. 



It has always been considered by those who claim a knowledge of Beach grass planting, 

 that the spring season is the only one in which it should be planted. Last fall we continued 

 the grass plantings beyond the point where we left off last spring, and contrary to claims 

 made, at the present time it shows to be in better condition and to have stood the winds of 

 the winter much better than the grass planted last spring. 



Yours respectfully, 



Leonard W. Ross, 

 Forester to Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners. 



