boitbl's account of operation. 37 



Some careless proprietors sow the pine seed on the land amongst 

 the bush, without any preparatory work. In such cases the seedlings 

 push their way with difficulty, and the young pines remain long in a 

 miserable and languishing state, if they do not altogether succumb in 

 the struggle. In the district of Orleans a careful preparation of the 

 soil is necessary, but in Gascony it is enough that the heath be 

 mown or burned. 



It is found advantageous to sow in September, but it may be sown 

 on till May, and in favourable spots till the end of that month. 



When the ground is free, five or sis seeds are deposited in holes 

 made with a small wooden trowel, 60 m.m., or 2 feet apart, and 10 or 

 12 inches deep. Where the ground is hard or covered with sod, 

 the holes are dug with a pick-axe or a hoe. Brooms are sown at the 

 same time to give shade and shelter to the seedlings, which are very 

 sensitive, both to sunshine and to cold, 



By Bremontier, first hurdles or wicker work, and afterwards trees 

 were employed in his successful undertakings to arrest the drift-sands 

 of the Landes, and the two appliances are used conjointly; while not 

 a little is accomplished by the natural, or aided, spread of the 

 indigenous vegetation, the different kinds of which, in accordance with 

 the laws regulating the distribution of plants, grow well in their own 

 domains. 



"On the very margin of the sea," says Boitel, "that is at the limit 

 reached by the waves on the slope of the coast directly opposed to all 

 the marine inflaences, we admire the robust vegetation of the 

 calamagrostis arenaria, (a species of small reed), called there gourhet ; 

 of the triticum junceum, (a species of Couch grass) ; and of the 

 Festuca sabulicola (a species of Fescue grass). These are the three 

 species of plants which, by their vivacious condition, their long, wide- 

 stretching and resisting roots, their numerous and persistent leaves, 

 and the length of their stipes, or stalks, contribute most powerfully to 

 arrest the sands. Some other herbaceous plants also are feeble 

 auxiliaries to them in doing so — such are the convolvulus soklanella 

 (the sea convolvulus), the arenaria jyej^loides (ovate leaved Honckenya), 

 the caTcile maritima (sea rocket), the galum arenaria (a species of 

 lady's obedstraw), the eryngiimi maritimum (sea holly), and the 

 euphorbia paralis (sea spurge). 



" Leaving this little slope battered by the sea, and mounting the 

 terrace which dominates the sea there for a breadth of from 400 to 

 500 metres — ligneous vegetables are as yet unable to maintain them- 



