BARRIERS to the COAST SANDS.

Patea Mail, 24 March 1882, Page 3

BARRIERS to the COAST SANDS.

Official reports say- that under the patronage of the French Government, the planting of the maritime pine along the Atlantic coast of Gascony has for many years been . perseveringly continued, and now covers over 400,000 acres in the single district between the rivers Adour and Gironde. Not only has this wide area been reclaimed and made productive soil, but a stilt greater extent of fertile land has been rescued from the destruction threatened by the advancing sand hill. In planting the dunes, a barrier was found necessary at first to protect the young trees from the rolling sands, which otherwise would smother them. A donble line of paling was erected parallel to the shore and at 100 metres from high-water mark—the second line being 100 metres further inland. This paling is made of planks, sharpened at the lower end,-and driven into the sand. Spaces enough are left to pass through to bank up equally on both sides, and relieve somewhat the force of the wind by allowing it to pass through these openings. As the paling is covered by the sands the planks ore raised one at a time. A movable frame with a long lever, and mounted on runners, so that it can be slid along the top of the fence, and having pinchers and a chain is easily carried ! and operated by one man. The total cost of planting and protecting the pine has sometimes been as much as £8 per acre. The timber of this plantation has long been a source of profit, affording both resin and wood. France now draws an annual revenue of 130,000 francs from the resinous products of these forests. But in this case the greater profit comes from the consequent protection of the adjoining country from the encroaching sands, which had formerly sterilized regions and buried thriving villages. M. Samonas says that “In all France nearly 1,000,000 acres (400,000 hectares) of desolate lands, supposed to be doomed to everlasting sterility, have been reclaimed, and these savage deserts are now stocked with maritime pines which will become for the country a fruitful source of wealth, and supply some day the wants of the whole of France. ”