54 Transactions. — Miscellayieouis. 



Lepturus incurvatus, Europe. — Abundantly naturalized on sands in the 



Auckland Province, but of trivial value. 

 JElymus geniculatus, lyrne grass, Europe. — Of equal value witli tbe marrem, 

 StenotapTirum glabrum, buffalo grass. — Increased by seed and cuttings, etc, ; of 



stout procumbent habit, and producing a large yield of nutritious herbage. 



It would ultimately prove advantageous to the Colony if a small portion 

 of the money now being sjient on public works could be applied to the 

 reclamation of sand wastes. The magnitude of the evil to be remedied is 

 admitted by all who have paid the slightest attention to the subject. In several 

 localities the natives are compelled, year by year, to abandon their cultivations 

 as the sand-wave advances, and settlers are helpless witnesses of the destruction 

 of their paddocks from the same cause. Fences, large trees, and patches of 

 bush, have been overwhelmed within the memory of settlers of compai-atively 

 recent standing, and, in some cases, still more serious injury must result unless 

 preventive measures are taken. The danger is not confined to any one district 

 or province ; it is general, and demands prompt attention. 



While much can be done with the means already at command, there can 

 be little doubt that other plants, both indigenous and exotic, would prove 

 available on actual experiment, and some species may be found to possess 

 greater value than many of those at present known. 



The work of reclamation in this Colony is greatly facilitated by the 

 favourable nature of the climate, which allows the employment of many plants 

 not available for the purpose in other countries. 



It must be confessed that such localities as the Waikato Heads, and some 

 parts of the Kaipara sand-hills, are calculated to produce an imjjression of 

 man's inability to cope with nature ; but, if we look at what has been 

 accomplished with more slender resources than those now indicated, it will be 

 seen there is abundance of encouragement. In the Gulf of Gascony immense 

 wastes of trackless sand were utterly destitute of vegetation, and during 

 violent storms exhibited a complete change of surface, hills becoming valleys 

 and valleys taking the place of hills, the sand being gradually carried into the 

 interior, and covering cultivated fields, villages, and entire forests. This 

 process of devastation has been completely arrested, and thousands of aci-es of 

 former sand-waste now yield a handsome revenue, and support a considerable 

 population. To arrest the process of destruction now to be seen in so many 

 localities in this Colony is an object for which we may well venture to 

 encounter the possibility, the probability even, of I'epeated failures in the 

 certainty of ultimate success. 



