C02 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 191. 



appreciated its charms. It was introduced to Europe in 1844. 

 The cultivation of the species and its varieties is not difficult. 

 The plants make their best growth, and, consequently, flower 

 most freely, on a moderately dry site which affords a slight 

 measure of shade. A somewhat sandy loam, well enriched 

 with leaf-mold, forms an excellent compost. Massing is the 

 most effective method of planting, and great care should be 

 exercised in the selection of the position for such masses, so 

 that removal of the plants may not soon become a necessity. 

 Disturbance of the roots is almost invariably resented by 

 healthy plants, hence the desirability of using proper judg- 

 ment in planting. A light annual top-dressing of thoroughly 

 decomposed leaf-mold early in spring will preserve the needed 

 fertility. Propagation may be effected by carefully dividing 

 the roots in spring. 

 Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Musa Ensete. — In a recess here, sheltered from the north- 

 west winds, there stands, untouched by frost in mid-October, 

 a noble group of the Abyssinian Banana. They are now six 

 years old and have been planted in this corner for the last 

 four years, but, as yet, have not fruited. Every autumn, when 

 cut down by frost, they are dug up and stored in sand, free 

 from frost, until some time in January, when, after repotting, 

 they make new roots and a few leaves, and, although much 

 reduced in size, they are in good condition for planting out in 

 June. The set-back received during winter doubtless pre- 

 vents their fruiting during the succeeding summer, and it is 

 fortunate it is so, since fruiting in this species means death. 

 Many plants of- this species have been lost during winter 

 through over-watering. They need very little. An acquain- 

 tance of mine threw a small plant into the loft, above a work- 

 shop, which was always free from frost. It kept alive all 

 winter and grew well the following season, with nothing about 

 its roots but a piece of bagging. 



Wellesley, Mass. . ^^^ T. D. Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 

 The Province Lands at Provincetown. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — During my recent search for public holdings in the 

 shore-towns of Massachusetts, for the Trustees of Public 

 Reservations, I examined the province lands at Provincetown, 

 and traced the course of legislation regarding the title to them. 

 They are undoubtedly the property of the commonwealth, and 

 thus constitute an important and extensive public reservation 

 already in existence. It comprises all that part of Province- 

 town lying west of the westerly fence of the eastern school- 

 house, and extends southerly from the said fence about 

 eighteen degrees east to the harbor, and from the said fence 

 northerly about eighteen degrees west to the ocean. A large 

 part of the village of Provincetown stands on this land, and 

 besides the tract thus built upon there is an unoccupied area 

 which the town officers estimate at 4,000 acres. 



At a very early period in the history of the colony these lands 

 were, by specific action of the Government, reserved as a colo- 

 nial fishing-ground, and from it the colony obtained a varying 

 revenue. At a later date this territory was set apart as a fish- 

 ing-right to be held in common by the people of the province. 

 The records of the colony show that it was enacted by the 

 court in 1661 that no stranger or foreigner shall improve — that 

 is, use — our lands or woods at the cape for the making of fish 

 without liberty from the Government, and that all who obtain 

 the privilege shall obey orders and pay sixpence a quintal for 

 the colony's use for all the fish they catch. In 1670 the colo- * 

 nists were required to pay sixpence a barrel for mackerel 

 caught at Cape Cod, and foreigners one shilling and sixpence. 

 After this there is a long succession of grants and regulations 

 for this fishing-ground, which constantly assert the title of the 

 colony to these lands. Some of these grants were made to 

 support schools, some for bountiesforsoldiersortheir widows. 

 In 1690 the court specifically asserts its possession of all the 

 soil and royalties at Cape Cod. 



In 1736 three men, as agents for the inhabitants of the Pre- 

 cinct of Cape Cod, presented a petition to the court asking that 

 the precinct be made a town, and the court granted the re- 

 quest, with this condition, "Provided it do not prejudice the 

 right and title of the province to the lands nor obstruct any 

 person in the fishery, which is a privilege in common." The 

 precinct was made a town in 1727, and called Provincetown, 

 and in the act of incorporation the term " province lands " is 

 first used officially. This is the act : 



"Be it enacted, etc., That all the lands on said cape — being 

 province lands — be and hereby are constituted a township by 



the name of Provincetown, and that the inhabitants thereof be 

 invested with the powers, privileges and immunities that any 

 of the inhabitants of any of the towns within the province by 

 law are or ought to be invested with ; saving always the right 

 of this province to said land, which is to be in no wise preju- 

 diced. And provided that no person or persons be hindered 

 or obstructed in building such wharves, stages, work-houses 

 and flakes and other things as shall be necessary for the salt- 

 ing, keeping and packing their fish, or in cutting down and 

 taking such trees and other materials growing on said province 

 lands as shall be needful for that purpose, or in any sort of 

 fishing, whaling, or getting of bait at the said cape, but that the 

 same be held as common, as heretofore, with all the privileges 

 thereunto in any wise belonging." 



From 1727 to 1854 there is, so far as I can ascertain, no record 

 or indication of any abandonment or modification of the title 

 of the province or commonwealth to these lands, and in 1854 

 the legislature enacted that 



" The title of the commonwealth, as owner in fee to all the 

 province land within the town of Provincetown, is hereby as- 

 sorted and declared, and no adverse possession or occupation 

 thereof by any individual, company or corporation for any 

 period of time shall be sufficient to defeat or divert the title of 

 the commonwealth thereto." 



" The provisions of the 12th section of the Revised Statutes, 

 chapter 119, shall not be held to apply to any of the province 

 lands in said town of Provincetown." 



These paragraphs are sections 8 and 9, chapter 261, of the 

 Laws of 1854. The 12th section of chapter 119, here referred 

 to, provides for the acquisition of title to land by undisputed 

 possession or occupation for a prescribed term of years, and 

 these province lands are expressly excepted from its appli- 

 cation. 



The people living on these lands are merely occupants and 

 holders. They buy and sell the land, and give, receive and 

 record warranty-deeds, but these, though they may be good 

 as against the claims of individuals, are of no force or validity 

 against the right and possession of the commonwealth, which 

 holds by an absolute title, indefeasible by adverse possession 

 or occupancy by any individual, company or corporation for 

 any period of time. 



There is no reason to suppose that the state will ever dis- 

 turb or eject these occupants of the lands belonging to the 

 commonwealth. Nobody, so far as I know, is in favor of any 

 interference with the occupancy of those who have been per- 

 mitted to appropriate portions of these common lands to their 

 individual use ; but a large number of the inhabitants of the 

 town of Provincetown are dwellers on the public domain, and 

 have no title in fee to the land which they occupy. 



The most important feature of the matter is the fact that, 

 besides the territory thus used and dwelt upon, there remains 

 an area entirely unoccupied which is estimated at about 4,000 

 acres, or six square miles. • This region embraces and consti- 

 tutes the extreme end of Cape Cod. About half of the tract is 

 fairly well wooded, being covered by a thick growth of " hard 

 Pine " {Pinus rigida), Oak, Maple and other trees, with a dense 

 undergrowth of shrubs and vines. This wooded portion lies 

 nearest the village of Provincetown, and probably contains 

 about 2,000 acres. The part nearest the shore, constituting 

 the point of the cape, appears to be of nearly equal area. It 

 is a region of moving sand, which is blown by the wind into 

 great billows, or irregular ridges, which are every year rolled 

 farther and farther inland toward the village, swallowing and 

 burying the forest as they advance. 



I saw Maple-trees more than twenty feet in height which are 

 entirely covered as they stand, except a few sprouts from the 

 highest branches, by which the tree is struggling to raise its 

 lungs above the suffocating sand. It is a painful spectacle to 

 a lover of trees. The whole of this area of 2,000 acres of un- 

 stable sand was covered by a Pine-forest when white men first 

 came to the cape. This desert is not natural, but was directly 

 created by human agency. The trees were cut away, and much 

 of the space — -perhaps all of it — burned over, thus destroying 

 the soil and the mat of vegetable fibres which held it in place. 

 All the conditions which maintained the stability of the surface 

 being destroyed, the sand of the shore began to move inland 

 before the wind, and it has continued to advance with increas- 

 ing depth, volume and velocity until now. The stumps of 

 Pine-trees are still visible where the wind blows the sand away 

 down to the original surface. 



Much money has been expended in efforts to stay the prog- 

 ress of this ruinous and resistless tide of sand, but nothing has 

 been accomplished except to demonstrate the futility of the 

 methods employed. The planting of beach-grass has been 

 the means chiefly, or wholly, relied upon to bind the shifting 



