78 FOEEST CULTURE AND 



our shores the sand is invading villages, towns, and, 

 perhaps, harbors, and as, moreover, many a desert 

 spot inland may be reclaimed, I would remark that, 

 to arrest the waves of the sand, some wickerwork or 

 cover of brush is needed on the storm side. Large 

 seaweeds help to form such covering. Sods of Me- 

 sembryanthemum, to which the unpoetic name of 

 "Pigfaces" is here given, and which abounds on our 

 coast, should copiously be scattered over the sand- 

 ridges ; wild cabbage, celery, sea-kale, samphire. New 

 Zealand spinach (Tetragonia), chamomile, and various 

 clovers and bloom plants should be sown, and creep- 

 ing sand-grass (Pestuca litoralis, Triticum junceum, 

 Buflfalo-grass, Agrostis stolonifera), etc., should be 

 planted, particulary, also, sand-sedges and sand-rush- 

 es, among the best of which are Carex arenaria, and 

 here the Sword Rush ( Lepidosperma gladiatum). 

 Psoralea pinnata and Rhus typhinum, Prunus mari- 

 tima (the Canadian sea-coast plum), Ailanthus gland- 

 ulosa, proved also valuable in this respect. As eligi- 

 ble, I may add, also, the native couch-grass (Cynodon 

 Dactylon), the South African Ehrharta gigantea, the 

 European Psamma arenaria, Elymus arenarius ( or 

 Lyme), even the Live-oak (Quercus virens) ; as alsp 

 another American Oak (Quercus obtusiloba), and the 

 Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris), and, perhaps. Poplars, 

 some Willows, and, among flrs, the Pinus insignis, 

 Pinus edulis, P. rigida, and P. Australis. The com- 

 mon Brake Pern helps also much to conquer the sand. 

 The New Zealand flax covers coast - sand naturally, 

 within the very exposure of the spray.* It is need- 



* Dr. Jam. Hector calculated that in New Zealand an acre of good flax 

 land contained about one hundred thousand leaves of the Phormium tenax, 

 and yields about ten tons weight of dried leaves ; or, if only the outer leaves 

 are taken, four tons. The yield of clean fiber is about twenty-three one 

 liuudredths of the green le^. 



