[457] Staring, De Bodem van Nederland, i, pp. 329-331. Id., Voormaals en Thans, p. 163. Andresen, Om Klitformationen, pp. 280, 295.
The creation of new dunes, by the processes mentioned in the text, seems to be much older in Europe than the adoption of measures for securing them by planting. Dr. Dwight mentions a case in Massachusetts, where a beach was restored, and new dunes formed, by planting beach grass. "Within the memory of my informant, the sea broke over the beach which connects Truro with Province Town, and swept the body of it away for some distance. The beach grass was immediately planted on the spot; in consequence of which the beach was again raised to a sufficient height, and in various places into hills."—Dwight's Travels, iii, p. 93.
[458] Staring, i, pp. 310, 332.
[459] There is some confusion in the popular use of these names, and in the scientific designations of sand plants, and they are possibly applied to different plants in different places. Some writers style the gourbet Calamagrostis arenaria, and distinguish it from the Danish Klittetag or Hjelme.
[460] Bread, not indeed very palatable, has been made of the seeds of the arundo, but the quantity which can be gathered is not sufficient to form an important economical resource.——Andresen, Om Klitformationen, p. 160.
[461] Bergsöe, Reventlovs Virksomhed, ii, p. 4.
[462] Measures were taken for the protection of the dunes of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, during the colonial period, though I believe they are now substantially abandoned. A hundred years ago, before the valley of the Mississippi, or even the rich plains of Central and Western New York, were opened to the white settler, the value of land was relatively much greater in New England than it is at present, and consequently some rural improvements were then worth making, which would not now yield sufficient returns to tempt the investment of capital. The money and the time required to subdue and render productive twenty acres of sea sand on Cape Cod, would buy a "section" and rear a family in Illinois. The son of the Pilgrims, therefore, abandons the sand hills, and seeks a better fortune on the fertile prairies of the West.
Dr. Dwight, who visited Cape Cod in the year 1800, after describing the "beach grass, a vegetable bearing a general resemblance to sedge, but of a light bluish-green, and of a coarse appearance," which "flourishes with a strong and rapid vegetation on the sands," observes that he received "from a Mr. Collins, formerly of Truro, the following information:" "When he lived at Truro, the inhabitants were, under the authority of law, regularly warned in the month of April, yearly, to plant beach grass, as, in other towns of New England, they are warned to repair highways. It was required by the laws of the State, and under the proper penalties for disobedience; being as regular a public tax as any other. The people, therefore, generally attended and performed the labor. The grass was dug in bunches, as it naturally grows; and each bunch divided into a number of smaller ones. These were set out in the sand at distances of three feet. After one row was set, others were placed behind it in such a manner as to shut up the interstices; or, as a carpenter would say, so as to break the joints. * * * When it is once set, it grows and spreads with rapidity. * * * The seeds are so heavy that they bend down the heads of the grass; and when ripe, drop directly down by its side, where they immediately vegetate. Thus in a short time the ground is covered.
"Where this covering is found, none of the sand is blown. On the contrary, it is accumulated and raised continually as snow gathers and rises among bushes, or branches of trees cut and spread upon the earth. Nor does the grass merely defend the surface on which it is planted; but rises, as that rises by new accumulations; and always overtops the sand, however high that may be raised by the wind."—Dwight's Travels in New England and New York, ii, p. 92, 93.
This information was received in 1800, and it relates to a former state of things, probably more than twenty years previous, and earlier than 1779, when the Government of Denmark first seriously attempted the conquest of the dunes.