Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-02-03
UTILITY OF THE sANp6iNDERs.
Grasses with Which 1t II Hoped to Hold
the Drifting Sands on Our Coast.

oHasses WIN :" hich II hopOu to NUN
the Drifting Sands on Our Coast.
Prof. F. Samson Scribner, agrostolo-
gist of the department Of agriculture,
has returned to Washington from Buff
falo, where he has been in charge OF
the departments exhibit of grasses.
80 varieties of which are under culti-
walton at the exposition. Since he
left Washington Prof. Scribner has
travelled extensively along the Atlantic
coast and throughout New England
and New York states, engaged in SUI
perintending the selection and the
preparation of various species of
grasses known as sandbinders, by the
extensive cultivation of which the de-
partment hopes to hold the drifting
sands of the Atlantic coast. The prin-
cipal experiments with different va
rleties of these grasses are now being
conducted in the vicinity of Cape Cod,
and Prof. Scribner said today that
it had been demonstrated that the
sand dunes Of that locality were being
held by the intelligent use of the sand
binders. On the Pacific coast the cul-
tivation of these grasses had resulted
in fixing the sandhills in the vicinity
of San Francisco and Los Angeles and
had made possible the creation of the
Golden Gate park.
These experiments with the sand
biners Prof. Scribner said, were being
conducted in all sections of the coun-
try in cooperation with the expert
ment stations of the various states,
and since the inception of the idea
and the steps taken toward carrying
it out, commendatory letters have been
received almost daily at the depart
ment from persons who either reside
in the sandy districts where the
grasses are being utilized, or whose
business interests bring them in touch
with conditions along the coast. One
variety of the sandbinders which has
shown up well in experiments is the
Montana blue grass, which has been
transplanted with great success to the
north Atlantic coast. This grass, aside
from its utility, lends most picturesque
coloring to the sand dunes. and when
thickly grown along the coast, blends
with the hue of the ocean and from a
distance makes it difficult matter to
determine the line of sea and shore.
While in New England Prof. Scrib-
ner had consultation with the sec
retary of the Massachusetts state
board of agriculture, looking to the
redemption of the abandoned farms
of New England from their present
state of disuse, while the abandoned
farms are generally considered,
through misconception of the facts,
to be sections of worked out land.
Prof. Scribner said that as good land
as any in the east is embraced in some
of these abandoned tracts, All they
needed. he said, was intelligent culti-
vation and tillage. The planting Of
forage crops, noted as soil improvers,
would aid materially in increasing tho
productiveness of the land and the
proper use Of fertilizers would do the
rest. In the majority of cases he
thought the farms had not been aban-
doned because the land was too poor
and barren to till, but because the
younger generation had drifted to the
cities, not caring to continue the strug-
gle in the old-fashioned way, op-
pressed by mortgages and discouraged
by the failure of crops and the refrae-
tory and unproductive soil, and not
having sufficient knowledge of mod
ern agricultural methods to open the
fight on other lines; .'.T.