72 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
spring tides; and in many parts of this State it is found nearer 
to the sea than any other pine. It is thus adapted, in every 
respect, to be planted on the extensive sands on Cape Cod, Nan- 
tucket, and in some other parts, which are now not only utterly 
barren and unproductive, but, by being blown about by the 
winds, are a serious inconvenience to the habitations of man, 
and threaten to overwhelm the cultivated spots in their vicinity. 
On the western coasts of the continent of Europe, particularly 
in Holland, and in Gascony in France, are similar and more 
extensive wastes of drifting sand, called dunes or downs, which, 
from time immemorial, had been barren. These were tossed 
about by the winds, like the waves of the sea, the whole aspect 
of the desert being sometimes changed by a storm, valleys tak- 
ing the place of hills, and hills of valleys. Fields, villages and 
even forests, had been overwhelmed by it, and it threatened to 
extend itself continually inland. ‘‘To obviate this evil,” says 
Decandolle,* from whom I borrow the account, ‘the Dutch had 
for a long time been in the habit of sowing these downs with 
beach grass, (Arundo arenaria, L.), that its long matting roots 
might fix the sand. Butif this takes from the sand its power 
of injuring, it leaves it wholly useless. On seeing the downs of 
Holland, I was struck with this defect, and pointed out the 
advantages of planting trees there. I was not then aware that 
the engineer Bremontier had, as early as 1789, made trial of 
this very expedient on the downs of Gascony. Its success has 
since been made public, and I have myself had the pleasure 
of witnessing it, which I did with unaffected admiration. The 
process of Bremontier is remarkable for its simplicity. He 
sows, in the loosest and dryest sand, the seeds of broom, 
(Genisia scoparia,) with those of the maritime pine,t (Pinus 
maritima) ; and covers the surface sown, with branches taken 
from the nearest pine forest. 'The object of the branches is to 
arrest the sand for a time, and keep it from blowing away. 
The plants of the broom spring up first, and by their rapid 
erowth, serve to retain the sand in its place and to shelter the 
* Physiologie Végétale, p. 1236, Vol. III. 
+ This is a variety of the cluster pine, (Pinus pinaster.) 
