50 CULTURE OF BEACH GRASS 



I This grass is very generally difiFused 



1 sea-coasts over the world, and is 



und inland on the shores of Lake Su- 



jrior. It has also been cultivated by 



' ay of experiment, and with success, 



1 the sands at Lowell, Massachusetts, 



id still further up on the banks of the 



^lerrimack River. Though not culti- 



bted for agricultural purposes, it is of 



•eat value in protecting sandy beaches. 



I is preserved in England and Scot- 



^ I ad by act of parliament. Flowers in 



\ugust. 



j In the year 1853, 1 was requested by 



} 1 e late T. W. Harris to make this grass 



special study, in the course of my ob- 



irvations ; and since that time I have 



ied, by personal inquiries and by cor- 



r 



ispondence, to collect whatever there 

 }' ight be of interest in relation to it. 



\s it is of national importance in pro- 

 tecting our sandy coasts, some account 

 of its culture may not be inappropriate 

 or uninterestmg. 



The town of Provincetown, once 

 called Cape Cod, where the Pilgrims 

 first landed, and its harbor, still called 

 the harbor of Cape Cod, — one of the 

 best and most important in the United 

 States, sufficient in depth for ships 

 Fig. 34. Beach Grass, of the largest size, and in extent to 

 anchor three thousand vessels at once, — owe their pres- 

 ervation to this grass. To an inhabitant of an inland 

 country, it is difficult to conceive the extent and the 

 violence with which the sands at the extremity of Cape 



