Note 462 — Chapter V

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.

The depasturing of the beach grass—a plant allied in habits, if not in botanical character, to the arundo—has been attended with very injurious effects in Massachusetts. Dr. Dwight, after referring to the laws for its propagation, already cited, says: "The benefit of this useful plant, and of these prudent regulations, is, however, in some measure lost. There are in Province Town, as I was informed, one hundred and forty cows. These animals, being stinted in their means of subsistence, are permitted to wander, at times, in search of food. In every such case, they make depredations on the beach grass, and prevent its seeds from being formed. In this manner the plant is ultimately destroyed."—Travels, iii, p. 94.

On page 101 of the same volume, the author mentions an instance of great injury from this cause. "Here, about one thousand acres were entirely blown away to the depth, in many places, of ten feet. * * * Not a green thing was visible except the whortleberries, which tufted a few lonely hillocks rising to the height of the original surface and prevented by this defence from being blown away also. These, although they varied the prospect, added to the gloom by their strongly picturesque appearance, by marking exactly the original level of the plain, and by showing us in this manner the immensity of the mass which had been thus carried away by the wind. The beach grass had been planted here, and the ground had been formerly enclosed; but the gates had been left open, and the cattle had destroyed this invaluable plant."