THE SAND DUNES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16608, 4 December 1919, Page 8

THE SAND DUNES.

SCHEMES OF RECLAMATION.

SIR JAMES WILSON’S SUGGESThc reclamation of sand dunes is the subject of a letter addressed to the KiUtaxa Chamber of Commerce by ton James Wilson, president of the Board of Agriculture. The chamber has been interesting itself in the uefitmcut ot the drifting sand'dunes ot the Ivaitaia district. , .i, In the south of-France, south of Bordeaux, there is a largo area of Jam. which goes under Dio name ot “Landes-' (writes Sir James Wilson;. It is a province, but when the Laudos district is spoken of, it means the swampy district inside the sand dunes on the coast. On this country there lived a few rheumatic 1 owlets, and the sand dunes spread gradually inland. The Dutch people had previously shown that it was possible to stop the unit by marram grass, and had planted the area then stabilised with trees. In Aberdeenshire tho same had happened, and one of the laws of George ill., I think, prohibits tho cutting of any ot this turf. Coko, of Norfolk, has also shown, what could be dono by planting on tho Wash in his county. tho French authorities, therefore, determined to stop the moving sand by planting marram grass. This was done, and whon tho grass had taken, the sand was planted with pinus pinarter, which seems to be tho tree which has stood tho blasts from the sea host. This enabled tho Governor of tho Province to start a great drainage scheme, and the low, unhealthy places were so dried that the land became very valu-, able. .Meanwhile tho trees grow up. Tho unwisdom of the British people had neglected forestry (tho French as a nation are great foresters), and therefore when the mines required props they could not bo procured in sufficient numbers, and a trade with the French people of the Landes district sprang up and many thousands of tho thinnings of the forest on tho sand dunes aro now holding up tho roofs in tho British mines. Tho district became healthy and prosperous, instead of the very reverse. We have in Now Zealand some 300,000 acres of sand dunes. Wo have in the Farmers’ Advocate been persistently asking that these should bo planted. They aro in the midst of settlement, and wo know grow valuable pines. On the Fox ton lino of railway there is a plantation—it is spoken of in Mr. Hutchins’s Waipoua Forest pamphlet—which is some 35 years old, which was planted on a sand drift which was blowing across the road and railway. It is now a great forest of insignis trees with muricatas on the outer edge. On some land my son has some distance above this, on pure sand, the trees have dono well. This is in the midst of the sandy coast. Wo got the Government to begin planting trees.at tho Raigitikei Heads, but the war came and it was given up. The trees, however, did well, but cattle have got in and destroyed many. We hope to soo this work begun again soon. Sir Francis Bell, who is at tho head of the Forestry Department, is a keen forester, I and he hopes to appoint a Director of Forestry soon. I hope tho above may be of advantage to you in your attempt to profit tbo district by reclaiming from waste some land which for ordinary production is useless, hut may be made for future generations more profitable than the best of land.”