46 T'ransactions.— Miscellaneous. 
Where young plants of the marrem or the lyme-grass can be procured, they 
may be placed about fifteen inches apart, by simply making an incision with a 
spade, inserting the plant, and pressing the adjacent sand about it with the 
foot. Festuca littoralis, which is common all round the coast, might be used 
for the same purpose ; Poa australis var. levis, an abundant grass from Port 
Waikato southwards, is also available, as are the pingao (Desmoscheenus spiralis) 
and the Spinifex hirsutus, which may be obtained in unlimited quantities on 
all coast sand-hills in the colony, although they are not so effective as the 
marrem, lyme-grass, and maritime fescue. 
Zoysia pungens, a creeping rooted grass, but with herbage rarely exceeding 
two inches in height, might be sown or planted amongst the larger kinds ; its. 
herbage is succulent, and it is eaten with avidity by sheep and horses, while it 
forms a remarkably dense, compact sward. Poa breviglumis, a grass more 
common on sandy shores in the South Island than in the North, affords a 
larger yield of herbage, and may be either sown or planted. Other suitable 
plants for this purpose are mentioned in the appended list. 
In a few exceptionally quiet spots, grasses of a more nutritive kind might 
be sown at once : the rat’s-tail, or chilian grass of the settlers, the doab grass, 
buffalo grass, and the common meadow grass are well suited for this purpose, 
alike from their creeping roots and dense yield of herbage. ‘The sheep’s fescue 
grasses are also of great value. 
The plan of forming ropes of seeded hay, and fastening them on the sand, 
has been described at length by Mr. Stewart, so that I need not refer to it 
here. 
In spots where moisture percolates through the sand for a portion of the 
year, the common water-cress might be sown or planted ; even if the supply of 
moisture failed during a protracted drought, the matted roots and decaying 
herbage would prevent the surface from being disturbed by the wind, and the 
plant would start into luxuriant growth with the first showers. 
In partially-sheltered valleys amongst sand-hills—such, for instance, as are 
found near the Manukau Heads—it might be worth while to iry the experi- 
ment of sowing wheat with subterranean trefoil and the native Poa brevi- 
glumis. A small yield of grain might be expected, but the benefit to be derived 
would arise from the decaying roots of the wheat, and subsequently of the 
trefoil, affording additional nourishment for the meadow grass, so that a 
compact sward would be formed more speedily than by the ordinary method. 
But in all eases, in order to afford protection at the most vulnerable point, it 
will be advisable to plant a belt of coarse-growing plants or small shrubs eapable 
of enduring the spray of the sea at high-water mark, This should be of several 
yards in width, varying according to the nature of the situation, degree of 
exposure, etc., and may be composed of toe-toe grass (Arundo conspicua ), 
