52 EAISING THE BEACH. 



above, " that this town does much in the way of 'beacJi- 

 grassing' by its 'beach-grass committee,' whose duty it is 

 to enter any man's enclosure, summer or winter, and 

 set out grass, if the sand is uncovered and movable. 

 By this means we are now rid of sand-storms, w^hich 

 were once the terror of the place, being something like 

 snow-storms, for drifts, which were to be removed. 

 Our streets are now hardened with clay, which has 

 been imported ; and, instead of its being buried, as it 

 would once have been in a few days, I notice that the 

 surveyors have to resort to sprinkling it with sand in 

 wet weather, so effectually has the culture of beach 

 grass answered its end. 



" The mode of culture is very simple. The grass is 

 pulled up by hand and placed in a hole about a foot 

 deep, and the sand pressed down about it. These holes 

 are dug about one foot and a half.apart. The spring is 

 the usual time of planting, though many do this work 

 in the, fall or winter. The roots of the grass, from 

 which it soon covers the ground, are very long. I 

 have noticed them ten feet, and I suppose upon high 

 hills they extend down into wet sand." 



Many years ago, the beach which connects Truro 

 and Provincetown was broken over, and a considera- 

 ble body of it swept away. Beach grass was imme- 

 diately planted, and the beach was thus raised to suffi- 

 cient height, and in some places into hills. The opera- 

 tion of it is like that of brush or bushes, cut and laid 

 upon the ground, in accumulating snow in a drifting 

 wind. The sand is collected around the grass, and, as 

 the sand rises, the grass also rises to overtop it, and 

 will continue to grow, no matter how high the sand-hill 

 may rise ; and this process goes on over the whole sur- 

 face of the plantation, and thus many acres have been 

 raised far above their original level. 



