104 ON SEA-SIDE PLANTING. 
Plants of every kind of conifer grown from seed deserve 
a preference to those propagated by any other method ; but 
the readiness with which the lateral branches of the larch 
take root, when sunk in sand of this quality, suggests a very 
speedy and effectual method of increasing some of the more 
valuable conifers, the seeds of which cannot be obtained. 
When the cover of trees begins to prevent the movement 
of the sand, the vegetation first observed on the surface was 
Hypocheris radicata, Polytrichum commune, Agrostis vulgaris, 
Agrostis alba, Ammophila arundinacea, and Calluna vulgaris. 
The first-mentioned plant strikes its root to a great depth, 
grows freely, seeds abundantly, is a perennial, and likely to be 
valuable in fixing sand. As to the relative fitness of the two 
kinds of trees for the situation at first, there was some diffi- 
culty in deciding which was the more suitable. The native 
fir affords the best shelter ; it stands in great health, and has 
much the advantage in appearance; its deep green contrasts 
beautifully with the whiteness of the sand, which gives the 
foliage of the native plant something of the lustre of a Hima- 
layan. The larch, from the shedding of its leaves, which 
soon decay, forms a dark stratum of vegetable matter on the 
surface of the sand, which consolidates it and promotes vege- 
tation, particularly the growth of the grasses, much sooner than 
the exuvie of the Scotch fir; but both have their advantages, 
and, in order to furnish a chojce of kinds in the operation of 
thinning, a mixture is to be recommended, although there is now 
no doubt that the Scotch fir is the more reliable tree, and will 
ultimately, in most cases, yield the most valuable crop of 
timber. Within the boundary of these plantations are several 
beaches of rolled boulders of primitive and transition rocks. 
Although the surface of these is stationary, and the soil in- 
termixed amongst the stones, they are almost destitute of any 
vegetation except moss; on these beaches the larches do not 
grow, and the firs assume a yellowish green, and are much 
more dwarfish than those in the pure sand. This probably 
arises from the stones admitting the drought of summer to a 
greater extent than the pure sand does. 
