Gardening in California 



fairly well for a few months, but, on account of barley being a 

 shallow rooter and an annual, dying out in a few months, it 

 failed to hold the sands together after July, and the winds of 

 August started them moving again. 



The next attempt was made with the Yellow Lupin (Lu- 

 pinus arboreus), a strong-growing, perennial shrub which is a 

 native of this section. The seeds were collected and sown broad- 

 cast over a large portion of the area, but this proved successful 

 only in the better protected parts of the district. 



The Sea Bent Grass (Amophylla arenaria), a native of the 

 maritime countries of Europe and successfully used in nearly all 

 the coast countries of that continent, was next experimented 

 with. This plant had been used in Denmark perhaps more than 

 in any other country, but France, Holland, Italy, Spain and also 

 Great Britain had reclaimed many thousands of acres by means 

 of this wonderful sand-binder. 



The seeds were imported from France, and, first of all, were 

 sown in the nursery. When two years old, the plants were taken 

 up and planted out in the sand-dune district where they imme- 

 diately took root and, by their tremendous root-growth, held the 

 sands together and prevented them from moving. 



The great superiority of the Sea Bent Grass over all others 

 recommended as sand-binders is that it is almost impossible to 

 bury it so deeply in the sand that its crowns cannot push through 

 to the surface. Even if buried many feet deep, it works its 

 strong stems up to the air where new crowns form from which 

 are sent down masses of strong, fleshy roots, anchoring the grass 

 so firmly that the fiercest gales have but little effect on its growth. 



This grass" is also a wonderful sand collector. Eleven years 

 ago, when the Park Commission of San Francisco constructed 

 the drive facing the ocean along the Great Highway, the line 

 of the proposed roadbed, was in many places below high water 

 mark, so sand was scraped from below high water mark, in order 

 to raise the roadway to the proper level. 



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