214 BULLETIN 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
while securing quicker results, is not really necessary. It should be 
kept in mind, too, that these plantations were not irrigated, and 
were left to shift for themselves. 
At the very shores of the Pacific, south of the famous Cliff House, 
a place familiar to thousands of tourists, there are large low growths 
of acacia and albizzia, so close to the beach that the spray from the 
winter waves dashes over them. ‘They are from 4 to 8 feet high, 
with close-matted roots and tops, which bind the sands and com- 
pletely cover them. They are from 6 to 16 years old, and their 
stems are from 1 to 2 inches through. The albizzias begin to flower 
in November, and self-sown seedlings are numerous. They seem 
better able than the acacias to extend their foothold on the beach’s 
extreme verge. The acacias bloom in February; they make few 
seeds in such an exposed situation, though farther inland they seed 
well. 
A little farther east and moreinland, at about athousand feet from the 
ocean, are more acacias, principally Acacia longifolia, growing among 
and over the sand hills, and though these are no older than the beach 
thickets they are from 8 to 12 feet high, because they are more 
sheltered and in less saline soil and atmosphere. A very large area 
which was hopelessly barren has been rendered attractive by the 
acacia copses. There are a few sand willows and pines, but the bulk 
of the growth is of planted and self-sown acacias. 
Still farther east, nearly half a mile from the ocean, but still on 
land which was formerly sand dunes, the acacias are somewhat older 
and give each other good protection. These are from 20 to 30 feet 
high, with stems from 10 to 18 inches in diameter. Like all the others 
in the sand hills, these trees never received any artificial application 
of water. They were set out during the rainy season from seed boxes 
when only a few months old, and were then left to fight their own 
battles. In many cases the little trees grew from 3 to 5 feet during 
the first spring. 
In November some of the acacias on‘the sunny sides of the dunes 
show bloom, and by the middle of January the whole expanse is 
golden with blossoms. This is two weeks ahead of the same species 
on the beach. 
The mixed plantations along railroad cuts in and near Golden Gate 
Park and in some of the older groves where good soil has been spread 
over the sand are now large and thrifty, fairly deserving the name 
forests. Individual specimens are 24 inches in diameter and are 
fit for timber. : 
There has always been a struggle between the sand and the vege- 
tation, though in the end the acacias seem to be able to fix the soil, 
even though they have been temporarily killed back. Where the 
