RECLAMATION OF LANDS DEVASTATED BY SHIFTING SANDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5372, 15 June 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

RECLAMATION OF LANDS DEVASTATED BY SHIFTING SANDS.

Tho reclamation of lands devastated by shifting sands is a question which seriously demands onr attention. The fine insoluble particles of the soil, which is carried to the sea by the rivers, are thrown upon the beaches by the waves, from whence they ate driven inland by the winds, where they form fantastic hilllocks or rolling waves of arid sand. Unfortunately, it is not only the passage of these sands that wo have to contend with, and the temporary spoliation of our fields, for they have the property of removing tho humus from the mould on which they tall, and of assimilating it to themselves, and when they pass away, they carry it with them, leaving only the denuded subsoil behind. Where by means of county restrictions tho straying of cattle can be abolished, the cultivation of sand hills would be found to be a comparatively easy matter. In places were it is found impossible to exclude cattle, the robust kinds of perennial mesemIryanthemum will bo found very efficacious in restraining sand. The plants delight in the vicinage of the ocean, they will grow either on loose sand, or on the bare sub soil left after the passage of the sands ; in the one case they fix the sands, and in the other they not only cover the bare and unsightly earth, but gradually, by the arresting of particles of sand; and by the decay of their leaves and stems, form a new and rich vegetable mould. In the shelter of their trailing stems, the winged seeds of Pomaderis cricifolia find a lodgment and an aid to germination, as also to the seeds of clover, and especially of prairie grass. An exceedingly valuable grass for the reclamation of sands unprotected from cattle is Ely mm arenarius or Sea Lyme grass, a very hardy littoral grass, which grows extensively on the coast of Sussex, in England. We have some of it in Taranaki, and look upon it as a very valuable grass for reclamation purposes. It is not eaten by sheep, horned cattle, or horses, it will grow iu tho bleakest spots and within reach of the sea-spray ; it forms great tufts of herbage from four to five feet high, and by its matted roots aireats the sands, /'though it seeds pretty freely it does not readily propagate fresh plants on very bleak hills, on account of the seeds finding no lodgment, but being driven clean away by the winds. The evil is remedied when the plants have become sufficiently plentiful to form a shelter. At first It is necessary, therefore, to raise plants from seeds in a nursery and to plant them out on the hills when they have attained sufficient maturity or, as the mature plants will bear division, to plant out stolons in rows, in damp weather. The seed ripens in the north in the early part of, February or shortly after the cocksfoot grass seed, and can be gathered with little difficulty. The subject of sand reclamation is so important, and local governing bodies are so apathetic concerning it, that the attention of the Legislature should be called towards Wells, in N. Z, Country Journal.,