36 EXPLOITATION OF PLANTS 
the North African Coast at a cost to the paper manu- 
facturer of £3 tos. the ton. 
Experiment will have to determine how often an 
area can be cut, the most economical distribution 
of shelter belts so that the sand shall not blow away 
from the stubble, the effects of manures, and the 
possibility of using 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 £4 per 
acre, and according to the Australian exploitation at 
Port Fairy, Victoria, £4 5s.—all charges included. 
The subsequent details for regular cropping would 
have, of course, to be ascertained by trial. 
In addition to the above, sand dunes lend themselves 
to a variety of cultivations. Thus the bulb gardens of 
Holland consist of a thin layer of dune sand overlying 
peat; where the sand is too deep canals are cut and 
the sand removed in barges till reduced to the required 
thickness. No doubt quite suitable areas for bulb 
gardening are available in England; nevertheless, it 
would require an heroic effort to compete with the 
Dutch in this highly technical art, for it must be remem- 
bered that bulb culture suits the Dutch genius, and 
that they have had centuries of experience in the craft. 
Vegetables can be very successfully raised on dune 
sand, The writer vividly remembers the supreme 
excellence of vegetables, and especially of potatoes, from 
a dune garden in Brittany which had been tempered 
with mud from an adjacent salt marsh. 
