Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-11-08
The Dunes On fhe Baltic.

What curious things dunes arei Have
we any on the coast of America any
where i am not geOgrapher enough
TO answer the question F; ] only know
there was no sign of them on the Ameri-
can coasts which | have visited. |
should like to climb this dune and col
lect some of the plants that are growing
on its sides and SUBMITS, in the pure
white sand, but a warning inscription
painted on a board tells me that ''the
treading on the dunes is forbidden,
under fine" SO | remain where | am,
and satisfy myself with looking and
thinking. How did the dune come
there I so much | have learned: the
waves on a stormy coast do not come
empty handed to the land. Not only
shells and weeds are borne along by
them. but 4 heavier burden of fine
sand. They take away with them, of
course, much which they bring, but not
all, for the retiring wave has mach less
force than that which comes plunging
and bounding impetuOusly onward; so
each time something remains. Then
comes the wind, that bold playmate of
the ocean, takes up his comrades play
things, carries them still farther from
him, and leaves them lying, when he is
tired of them, far up the shore. When
a beginning has once been made. in this
as in other things, the further progress
is easy; the ridge of sand catches and
holds fast on its projections and in
dentatlons the new accesslons- As
Heaven has hidden germs of life even
in the sand-beds, vegetation soon ap-
pears; 4 sort of grass, the sand-oat,
which seems to delight in such soil,
shows its green blades almost immedi-
d. !, -1..z..
FROM view, but they are hardy little
fellows, and soon struggle up again to
the light. Firs and pines also do not
disdain this soil. and even the graceful
birch will at last wave her slender stem
and light tresses above it. The inhabit-
ants of the shore know of how much
worth such a natural wall will be to
them to guard them against the attacks
of the sea in its wild winter storms;
and, when they see the beginning of
such sand-rampart, often hasten to
help on its progress. Willows, alders,
or birches, are interwined to a sort of
lattice fence on the top of the ridge,
and these, also, help 10 catch and hold
the coming sands. They also shelter
the fertile land behind the dune from
being flooded with the sterile sand
flood. The sand-ridge becomes con-
stantly firmer through the rapid-spread-
ing growth of the sand-Oat and
sand barley; these grasses have the
power to take root at every joint, and
the parts which grow old and decay
give gradually fertility to the sand. 1t
is after this that the forest -trees-tirs,
pines, and birches-begin to spring up
of themselves, or to be planted by the
careful cOast-dwellers. This does not
take place, of course, until the dune
has reached such height that il is
above the reach of the waves. The
dunes are generally from twenty to
fifty feet high; think the one at whose
foot am reclining is about the latter
height; it has been much injured and
worn away of late years, and great
precautions are now taken to prevent
its disappearing entirely, which would
he great injury 10 this bathing place.
The dunes are often as broad as one
thousand feet and more. When the
waves have thus built up rampant
against their own might, since its
slOping ridge extends into their do
main, they can no longer advance SO
far as before, and SO they begin TO
leave the new treasures they bring
with them at a new point Here another
dune is often formed, parallel with the
first, and not very far from it. This,
in its turn, drives still farther back the
power that has created it, and third
and fourth sand-rampart arise, while
the sea is ever pressed farther and far
ther back, and its waters become shall
lower and shallOwer. At tSwinemunde,
not far westward from this point, so
many of these parallel rows of dunes
have thus been formed by the sea that
ITS waters have been pushed back for
about three miles. Ii is strange con-
test, like that of a monarch against the
great princes whom he has himself
created, and who use the very power
he has given them to make encrOach-
ments against him. Nature has here
done Just exactly what man has done
in Holland and on some parts of the
Baltic coast. Where the rivers had
brought rich soil with them, and
formed large areas of fruitful alluvial
land at their mouths, the intelligent
inhabitants, chiefly those of Holland,
have exactly initiated these natural
dikes by their artificial ones, having
driven back the sea, step by step, by
parallel rows of artificial dunes. These
are often joined together by side-dikes
running at right angles with them. The
spaces between these dikes are gen
orally regular squares containing each
from about three hundred and fifty to
Elk or seven hundred acres. They are
called POIder or GTObeR.-AppietOn's
Journal.