490 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 



their sand-dunes to rest, and the most valuable of recent contributions on the 

 strategy and technique of dune planting come to us from overseas/ 



We have, however, a fine object-leeson in the pine-woods (Austrian, Corsican, 

 and Scots) which have been raised on the dunes of Lord Leicester's estate at 

 Holkham in Norfolk. As originally planted these woods were not intended for 

 exploitation, but by natural regeneration they are attaining to the condition 

 of exploitable forests. 



If it is a matter of urgency that more timber be raised in this country, 

 and nobody is likely to deny it, then our dune systems should be considered 

 from that point of view. And this is the more urgent as in not a few cases 

 extensive dune areas are no longer being fed by sand from the original source 

 but are being gradually blown away, and in another fifty to a hundred years 

 will have ceased to exist. A case in point is the BTancest«r-Burnham dune 

 eystem on the north coast of Norfolk, where the evidence of shrinkage from 

 this cause is incontrovertible. If the dunes are not planted within a reasonable 

 period there will be no ground left to plant. 



An alternative to conversion to forest is the utilisation of dune areas for 

 the improved cultivation of marram-grass. Paper experts have reported very 

 favourably on the prospects of marram as a raw material for the manufacture 

 of paper, ^ though I have not heard that it has been commercially exploited 

 in this sense hitherto. The fibre obtained belongs to the same class as Esparto- 

 grass, and can be dealt with in the mills where Esparto is treated. Before 

 the war we imported some 200,000 tons of esparto-grass from Southern Spain 

 and the North African coaet at a cost to the paper manufacturer of 3^ 10s. 

 the ton. 



During the present summer I cut in Norfolk trial areas of rough imcultivated 

 marram dunes and found the yield to be about 2| tone of dry gi'ass per acre. 

 If this result be corroborated in other cases, it is evident, having regard to 

 the prices mentioned, that the matter deserves serious attention. 



We have still to find out how often an area can be cut, the most economical 

 distribution of ehelter belts so that the sand shall not be blown away from the 

 stubble, the effects of manures, and the possibility of applying reaping machinery 

 on ground of this kind. 



For a maximum output it will be necessary to plant the dunes -with marram, 

 an operation well understood and costing where the most approved methods 

 are followed, according to Gerhardt's estimate H. per acre, and according to 

 the Australian exploitation at Port Fairy, Victoria, 4^ 5s. — all charges included. 

 The subsequent details of cultivation for regular cropping have, of course, to 

 be ascertained by trial. 



I should estimate that the cut of closely grown, planted marram-grass should 

 approximate to four tons dry grass per acre. In selecting areas for marram pro- 

 duction it would be well to avoid those where there is a tendency to stagnate; 

 moreover, extensive, homogeneous areas seem preferable to the narrow coastal 

 frin_ge. In this case, then, we should look to Cornwall, North Walee, the coast 

 of Scotland, and the well-known Southport area as the headquarters of this 

 kind of exploitation. 



There are other methods of dun© conversion that should also be considered 

 by any supreme body that may take over the control of our waste lands ; but 

 what has been said above may suffice for the immediate object of drawing 

 attention to the potentialities of these neglected areas. 



Scdt-marshes. — These being tidal require banking before they can be exploited 

 for cultivationi. The fertility of banked marshes is well known, and requires 

 no emphasising here. 



Extensive areas are ripe for banking without prejudice to navigation, and 

 the only remark to be made is that the inevitable period of transition between 

 the disbanding of our armies and their reabsorption into civil life should afford 

 the opportunity for putting through works of this kind, works analogous in 

 nature to the entrenchments which soldiers are accustomed to undertake. 



' L. Cockayne, Report on the Sand-dunes of New Zealand, N.Z. Department 

 of Lands, 1909. J. H. Maiden, The Sand-drift Problem in New South Wales, 

 in The Forest Flora of N.S.W., pt. Ivii. 1915. 



=■ Kew Bulletin of Misc. Information, 1912, p. 396; 1913, p. 363. 



