dune building and sand stabilizing (Dahl, et al . , 1974). In that study, 

 American beachgrass was not successfully established, and bitter 

 panicum was more successfully transplanted and easier to procure and 

 handle than sea oats. 



This study began in the spring of 1972 to determine the dune 

 building and sand stabilizing potentials of bitter panicum along the 

 North Carolina coast. 



I I . METHODS 



1. Nursery Propagation . 



Plants of bitter panicum were collected from Hatteras Island and 

 Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, in March 1972, to establish a nursery 

 at Clayton, North Carolina (Fig. 2). Single culm (stem) plants were 

 spaced 0.6 meters apart in rows 1.1 meters apart. These transplants 

 were cultivated to control weeds, and fertilized in mid and late summer. 

 By fall, there were about 10 culms for every original one (Fig. 3). 

 This number coverts to about 660 culms per are (100 square meters) in 

 the first year. By the end of the second growing season there were 

 about 1,650 culms per are. 



Field experiments with these plants began in the spring of 1973, 

 at Duck and Drum Inlet (Fig. 2). About 2 man-hours were required to 

 prepare 1,000 plants for field planting. Processing included digging, 

 breaking apart into usable transplants (Fig. 4), dipping in a clay 

 slurry, and packaging in reinforced paper to prevent desiccation. 

 These plants and two other dune grasses were used to test the dune 

 stabilization effectiveness of mixed species plantings with primary 

 emphasis on bitter panicum. 



2. Planting at Duck, North Carolina . 



The experimental planting at Duck was located about 300 meters 

 inland on a relatively broad, high, unstabilized sandy site (Fig. 5), 

 which is a part of the barrier island site of the Coastal Engineering 

 Research Center (CERC) Field Research Facility. This area was once part 

 of an aerial practice gunnery range and was largely denuded of 

 vegetation. Stabilization at this site became more of a concern than 

 dune building. 



The planting was established on 4 and 5 April 1973, using 

 mechanical procedures developed earlier (Woodhouse and Hanes, 1967). 

 Six planting treatments were replicated three times in 14- by 50-meter 

 plots. Each plot consisted of plants in 14 rows running toward the 

 ocean with 0.9 meters between rows and 0.9 meters between plants within 

 rows except for certain rows in which bitter panicum plants were buried. 



The six treatments consisted of: (a) nursery transplants of 

 bitter panicum from Hatteras Island stock; (b) nursery transplants of 



