ON SEA-SIDE PLANTING. 105 
Along the south side of the ground, under these plantations, 
where the surface is a sandy peat, the cover is a short grassy 
heath ; on such parts the plants grew freely, and are generally 
taller than on the pure sand. In other parts along the out- 
skirts of these sandy regions, although not comprehended in 
the plantations here referred to, there is a considerable extent 
of flat land under a close, rank, grassy sward; the ground is 
a pure sand, with a slight mixture of decomposed vegetable 
matter on the surface. This description of ground is, of all 
others, the most difficult to get successfully planted ; for, when 
plants are notched into such, they uniformly die of drought 
during the first summer. The matted herbage intercepts the 
ordinary showers, and keeps the ground destitute of moisture 
at the depth of a few inches. When a surface turf is pared 
off before the plant is inserted it has a better chance, and 
when the ground is pitted or trenched it is still more for its 
advantage. The preparation of the ground should be made 
several months before the planting, and the planting should 
be done in early autumn, or in moist weather in March or 
April. In places of this description, the risk of sand-drift on 
a trenched surface, where it is not convenient to thatch it 
with brushwood, sometimes prevents the destruction, by 
trenching, of any surface vegetation which may already 
exist. 
The annual growth of both kinds of tree in these woods in 
the purest sand was upwards of fourteen inches long, and 
contrasts favourably with that of plants in apparently better 
soil, more solid, but overspread with a matted surface of the 
natural grasses ; thus illustrating the advantage of planting on 
a loose open soil, with a clean surface, whether poor or rich. 
When such plantations reach from ten to twelve feet in height 
they are fit to yield a large supply of thinnings, which are 
well adapted for reclaiming the sands and limiting the en- 
croachment of sand-drift. These thinnings or brushwood are 
valuable for the purpose of being spread over the newly 
planted sands in the roughest exposures; overlapping or 
spreading the brushwood in an imbricated position, causes it 
