ON SEA-SIDE PLANTING. 103 
there arises. No cattle or sheep frequent this quarter, and 
a fence is unnecessary. The north sides of these planta- 
tions stand nearest to the sea, and are formed on knolls of 
pure sand-drift. These knolls are situated from one to two 
miles from the south edge of the Moray Firth, at a part 
where the sea is from twenty to twenty-five miles in breadth. 
Their altitude varies from twelve to thirty feet above the tide- 
mark. 
The plants on both plantations advanced vigorously, and, 
with the exception of a few small spots here and there covered 
with sand, or where it was drifted away soon after the 
plants were inserted, no vacancies existed. On lifting and 
examining some of the plants of both sorts, from the pure 
sand, it was found that they had furnished themselves with 
tap-roots, which strike right underneath the plants to a great 
depth ; but the greater portion of the roots run horizontally at 
a depth of about four inches under the surface of the sand, 
and extended over an almost incredible space. Many of the 
plants six years planted were possessed of roots upwards of 
twenty feet in length, which ramified into numerous lateral 
fibres. Where the surface had remained undisturbed, there 
was a remarkable uniformity in the depth of the fibres, both 
in flat and in steep situations. Nature adapts the plants for 
emergencies, and no instance was observable of their having 
perished from drought, or having been removed by wind after 
having grown a few years ; some of them stood where sand to 
the depth of more than a foot had been drifted from under- 
neath them, and continued to thrive with a great portion of 
their roots laid bare. In other cases the Scotch firs grew 
when drifted up with sand, and had only the growth of a 
year or two above the surface. In this position the shoots of 
Scotch fir do not strike root, but where the larch became 
sunk in drift its shoots readily rooted at a depth of four 
inches under the surface. Many stools were to be found 
resembling handfuls of larch plants inserted into one spot, 
showing that the soil or sand was well adapted for the growth 
of cuttings. 
