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heavy traffic with a tar-paved roadway 16 feet wide, on a rough-pitched foundation, 
through the sand at a total cost of under 3,000. In this work they called in the aid of 
Marram Grass. Eight rows were planted alongside the road, and they have undoubtedly 
prevented the sand encroaching on the road, and having done their work, the tussocks 
of Marram Grass are now being superseded by a close turf of grass and trefoils. Thus 
a well-known public nuisance has been removed and the wealth of the community 
increased by means of a short and direct road suitable for heavy traffic. The work has 
been carried out at a saving of many thousands of pounds upon the estimates of compe- 
tent engineers, and this remarkable result was rendered possible by an expenditure of 
200 on Marram Grass planting. 
Victoria has, in Marram Grass, given the whole of Australia a valuable object 
lesson, and, surely, we in New South Wales will not fail to profit by the excellent example 
that has been set us by some small yet. plucky municipalities in the sister State. 
Some day we in New South Wales will give Marram Grass that test which it has 
never yet received in this State. Through lack of knowledge we have planted it the 
wrong way. I believe that in many places all our reclamations can be carried out with 
Marram Grass and Marram Grass alone, without engineering devices. 
(c) Fixing the sand by means of vegetation. 
It became necessary in France to raise trees to pay interest on the outlay, and it 
may be necessary here. In certain localities the Marram Grass as a crop may pay a 
fair interest on the outlay, to say nothing of the great pecuniary advantage of having 
stayed the sand-drift ; but let us consider the desirability of supplementing the Marram 
with other vegetation. 
In France the fixation of the sand by mechanical means, and the permanent 
fixation by means of a permanent crop of trees, proceed simultaneously; it is obvious 
that the one may precede the other. In France not only is fixation of the shifting sands 
readily accomplished as part of the ordinary business of the forester, but a timber crop 
is raised upon these hitherto waste lands. The chief timber tree is the Maritime or 
Cluster Pine (Pinus pinaster Sol.; P. maritima Poir). The trees are not only tapped 
for the turpentine they contain, a flourishing industry being the result, but the timber 
has considerable local value, and is even exported to England, chiefly for mining 
purposes. 
" As regards the species there was little doubt ' Cluster Pine,' the ' Pin Maritime,' 
was already flourishing in places in the Landes." What a lesson we have here ! The 
sagacious Frenchman uses his native and well acclimatised vegetation ; the Australian 
seems to prefer to plant anything rather than his native vegetation. 
I do not, of course, object to the acclimatisation of useful plants, and the Mari- 
time Pine has proved useful here, but I would place native plants first for this particular 
service. In lieu of the Maritime Pine, I recommend the Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria 
excelsa) as the main timber tree for the New South Wales coast for the followin 
o 
