In 1864 was published Traité de la Culture du Pin Maritime dans les Landes, by Eloi Samanos, Paris. 8vo.

About this time, I presume, was published "The Desert World," by Arthur Mangin, from a translation of which, published by Nelson and Sons, I have quoted so largely; and Weld's "Tour through the Pyrenees," to which I am also so greatly indebted.

In 1870 an interesting report on the Landes of Gascony was made to the academy, by M. Faye.

These works I cite as bearing chiefly upon the planting of the Landes of Gascony and the Gironde.

The literature thus cited relates only to one aspect or department of a wider subject: The natural history of drift sands, and means of arresting and utilising them.

The literature on this subject is voluminous. It is chiefly in connection with sylviculture in Gascony that the students of the natural history of Dunes in France have published the results of their observations. It may be, and probably it was the case, that the planting of the Landes with trees called then for the study of the subject, and supplied, at the same time, the opportunity of careful observation. But much as we may owe to French writers on the subject, it is not to them alone that we are indebted for information on the subject; and none will be more ready than they, with the courtesy of their nation, and the honourable feeling of men of science, to admit that it is not to them or to their countrymen, but to others, we are indebted for information on many points surpassing in importance in their relation to physical geography what they have communicated, relating as this did chiefly, though not exclusively, to the cultivation of these Dunes when formed, and the practicability of doing so advantageously to all concerned.

While they were thus employed, in other nations the subject in other aspects of it was commanding and receiving attention. In 1832 appeared Anleitung zum Auban der Sandfläcken; and in 1838 was published a work entitled Over den Oorsprong en die Geschiedenis der Hollandsche Duinen, by Hull. The latter relating to the origin of the Dunes, the former to the planting of them.

In 1841 appeared a paper, by G. Forchhammer, entitled Geognostische Studien am Meeres Ufer, in Leonhard und Broun's Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie, &c. Jahrgang, 1841.

In 1846, was published Die Inseln und Marschen der Herzogthümer Schleswig und Holstein. Dresden and Leipsig. 3 vols. 8vo.

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In 1850, Der Dünenbau auf Ostsee, Küsten West-Preussens, by G. C. A. Krause, 1850, appeared; and subsequently there was published. In 1854, Ansichten über die Bewaldung der Steppen des Europäischen Russlands, by J. von den Brincken. Braunschwieg. 8vo.

In 1856 was published at Haarlem De Boden von Nederlanden, by W. C. H. Staring.

In 1861 was published at Copenhagen Om Klit formationen og Klittens Behandling, og Bestyvelse, by C. C. Andreson.

And in 1873 was published at Vienna Der Europäische Flug sand und seine Kultur, by Josef Wessely, in which is given a list of upwards of 100 books and papers on subjects pertaining to this department of forest science in Hungarian, Latin, and German, published in Hungary alone.

In our own language valuable information in regard to the natural history of sand, and of sand dunes, is given by the Honourable Mr G. P. Marsh in his volume on "The Earth as Modified by Human Action;" and by Professor R. C. Kedzie of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, in a lecture delivered at the College, in September, 1870; which will be printed in the appendix.

It does not come within the scope of my purpose in this volume to enter upon the consideration of the more comprehensive views of the subject thus opened up. The discussion of these is for the present postponed.

In accordance with what has been advanced in a previous chapter, is a narrative of the operations given in an article on pine trees, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review in October, 1864.

From this it appears the Landes, in Gascony in 1789, covered 300 square miles, ever shifting, and ever encroaching on the productive land beyond this sand. M. Bremontier, in the administration of forests, set himself to fix, and, if practicable, so to utilise this as to make it productive.

"In his report of proceedings, he compared this sandy tract to a billowy sea. It offered nothing to the eye but a monotonous repetition of white wavy hillocks perfectly destitute of vegetation. When violent storms of wind occurred, the surface of these downs was entirely changed-what were hills had become valleys, and valleys, hills. The sand on these occasions was often blown into the interior of the country, actually covering cultivated fields, villages, and even entire forests. This was done so gradually by a shower of particles as fine as the sand used for hour glasses that nothing was

destroyed. The sand gradually rose amongst the crops as if they were inundated with water; and the herbage and the tops of trees appeared quite green, and healthy even at the moment of their being submerged. On this moving and shifting sea, M. Bremontier sowed seeds of the common broom mixed with those of the pinaster, commencing on the side next the sea-or on that from which the wind generally prevailed, and sowing in narrow zones in directions at right angles to that of the wind. The first zone was protected by a line of hurdles, and after it was established, it protected the second, as the second did the third, and so on.

"To prevent the seed being blown away before it had germinated and become firmly rooted, he protected it by various ingenious modes, such as hurdles and thatching, and he had at last the gratification, after conquering many difficulties, of seeing his first zones firmly established. The rest was then comparatively easy; and by degrees the trees covered the whole of these sandy downs, not only providing the interior country with a barrier against the incursion of the sands, but turning the downs themselves from a desolate waste into a source of productive industry. Although the timber is of little value, the manufacture of tar, turpentine, and other resinous products furnishes sufficient occupation for the inhabitants, who are thinly scattered over large spaces. Among the efforts of man to control the elements and the powers of nature the conquests of the Landes from the desolation of the desert is entitled to a place beside the recovery of Holland from the empire of the sea.

"An agricultural genius, who, having studied agriculture, and particularly drainage, under scientific teachers, devised a system of reclaiming and husbandry, which has been very successful.

"Prosperity is rapidly following these improvements, and, what is better, malaria no longer poisons the reclaimed district. The peasantry enjoy better health, and M. Pierre firmly believes that the terrible pellagri will soon be unknown in the Landes."

CHAPTER V.

CULTURE OF THE MARITIME PINE ON THE LANDES OF GASCONY.

M. BOITEL, in his volume entitled Mise en valeur des Terres pauvres par le pin maritime, supplies much of the information which is naturally desired in proceeding to enquire what steps should be taken in carrying out similar measures elsewhere.

The following is a resumé of the details of operations followed in Gascony, as reported by him. Having referred to the circumstance that these two distinct forms of sand-lands, the one situated more in the interior of the land, immobile, or at least settled, and ranked by geologists amongst the formations of the tertiary period; the other found in the neighbourhood of the sea, and belonging to the dune formations still going on, mobile, and affected by the winds; he describes, first, the formation of pineries, or plantations of pine on the fixed sands.

Operations are carried on generally thus on lands covered with heather, or heather brooms, and whins: If the land be capable of tillage they begin by enclosing it, so as to exclude cattle, which, but for this precaution, would over-run the plantation, and do great damage to the seedlings or plants. This is effected by the formation of what is locally called a barradeau, composed of an exterior ditch, the inner bank of which is furnished with a wall of earth covered with sods about a mètre, or 40 inches, in height. It is constructed entirely of earth dug in the formation of the ditch, and is almost vertical on the outside; on its inner side it is formed of the sand furnished by the same ditch, leaning against the wall to a height of 45 m.m., or 18 inches.

This done, advantage is taken of the weather to set fire to the bush, taking necessary precautions against the extension of this beyond the enclosure to the bush, or pineries adjacent. If the ditch be not deemed sufficient, a band of 1 or 2 mètres in breadth is cut with a scythe along the outside of the barradeau, and the bush and brushwood thus obtained is thrown into the interior of the enclosure.

When the growth of bush is strong and near a tile-work, it is often advantageous, instead of burning it on the ground, to sell it for use in the kiln.

Some careless proprietors sow the pine seed on the land amongst the bush, without any preparatory work. In such cases the seedlings push their way with difficulty, and the young pines remain long in a miserable and languishing state, if they do not altogether succumb in the struggle. In the district of Orleans a careful preparation of the soil is necessary, but in Gascony it is enough that the heath be mown or burned.

It is found advantageous to sow in September, but it may be sown on till May, and in favourable spots till the end of that month.

When the ground is free, five or six seeds are deposited in holes made with a small wooden trowel, 60 m.m., or 2 feet apart, and 10 or 12 inches deep. Where the ground is hard or covered with sod, the holes are dug with a pick-axe or a hoe. Brooms are sown at the same time to give shade and shelter to the seedlings, which are very sensitive, both to sunshine and to cold.

By Bremontier, first hurdles or wicker work, and afterwards trees were employed in his successful undertakings to arrest the drift-sands of the Landes, and the two appliances are used conjointly; while not a little is accomplished by the natural, or aided, spread of the indigenous vegetation, the different kinds of which, in accordance with the laws regulating the distribution of plants, grow well in their own domains.

"On the very margin of the sea," says Boitel, "that is at the limit reached by the waves on the slope of the coast directly opposed to all the marine influences, we admire the robust vegetation of the calamagrostis arenaria, (a species of small reed), called there gourbet; of the triticum junceum, (a species of Couch grass); and of the Festuca sabulicola (a species of Fescue grass). These are the three species of plants which, by their vivacious condition, their long, widestretching and resisting roots, their numerous and persistent leaves, and the length of their stipes, or stalks, contribute most powerfully to arrest the sands. Some other herbaceous plants also are feeble auxiliaries to them in doing so-such are the convolvulus soldanella (the sea convolvulus), the arenaria peploides (ovate leaved Honckenya), the cakile maritima (sea rocket), the galum arenaria (a species of lady's bedstraw), the eryngium maritimum (sea holly), and the euphorbia paralis (sea spurge).

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Leaving this little slope battered by the sea, and mounting the terrace which dominates the sea there for a breadth of from 400 to 500 mètres-ligneous vegetables are as yet unable to maintain them