INTRODUCTION vii 



tion being to build and plant up effective barriers 

 against strong winds and gales, one portion of 

 the coast would be quite sufficient to serve as 

 illustrative of the whole. 



(2) Because it is one of the bleakest, most 

 exposed, most difficult, and, therefore, one of the 

 most suitable which could possibly be selected. 



(3) Because the author has had exceptional 

 opportunities of making close and careful surveys 

 on various matters of detail associated with sea- 

 side planting, especially for several years past in 

 Yorkshire. 



Every portion of the land around the shores 

 of Great Britain and Ireland is more or less 

 exposed to strong gales, storms, and keen, cutting 

 winds. 



In those parts where the coast is rugged in 

 character, as along the west of Ireland and Scot- 

 land, or where the larger rivers widen out as they 

 approach the oceans, there are many sheltered 

 nooks which are not at all difficult to plant, and 

 this is particularly intensified where, added to this, 

 high hills intervene as breaks to the winds. 



On the other hand, where promontories or 

 narrow portions of land push their headlands far 

 out to the sea, every part of these coasts may be 

 under exposure to such a degree as to render 



