Harbors are especially
endangered when their protection from the waves consists of a bank of
sand, as on Cape Cod and the Sandy Hook below the Narrows of the harbor
of New York.
How can man combat part of the continent on the move, driven by the
ceaseless powers of the air? By a humble plant or two. The movement
of the sand hills that threaten to destroy the marvelous beauty of the
grounds of the Hotel del Monte at Monterey is stopped by planting dwarf
pines. The sand dunes that prevent much of Holland from being
reconquered by the sea are protected with great care by willows, etc.,
and the coast sands of parts of eastern France have been sown with sea
pine and broom.
The tract of a thousand acres on Cape Cod had been protected by humble
beach grass. Some careless herder let the cows eat it in places, and
away went part of a township. It is now a punishable crime on Cape Cod
to destroy beach grass.
GAS HELP
This refers to more than stump speech-making. The old Romans drove
through solid rock numerous tunnels similar to the one for draining
Lago de Celano, fifty miles east of Rome. This one was three and a
half miles long, through solid rock, and every chip cost a blow of a
human arm to dislodge it. Of course the process was very slow.
We do works vastly greater. We drive tunnels three times as long for
double-track railways through rock that is held down by an Alp.
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