The  aspen-poplar  has  been  planted  with  some  success  upon  the  dunes  at  La  Panne,
upon  the  estate  of  M.  Bortiere,  and  this  agriculturist  proposes  to  use  the  sajiwood  of
tiiis  tree  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  Ho  has  placed  in  the  International  Horticul-
tural Exhibition  at  Amsterdam  (1877)  a  specimen  of  the  paper,  in  sheets,  obtained  from
trees  four  years  old  raised  upon  the  dunes  of  La  Panne.  The  plantations  of  trees  upon
dunes,  by  way  of  experiment,  have  hitherto  been  quite  limited  in  extent,  the  sands  on
our  coast  being  generally  fixed  by  means  of  the  opa  (sand-reed)  and  the  argoussicr.  The
first  of  these  is  planted  in  tufts  of  fifteen  to  twenty  stems,  in  quincunx  order,  about  15
inches  apart,  and  the  months  of  November,  March,  and  April  are  found  most  favorable
for  this  operation.  The  latter  is  of  the  elfeagnus  family,  an  indigenous  spring  shrub
■with  a  silvery  leaf,  with  which  they  make  little  hedges  along  the  flanks  of  the  dunes,
•where  most  exposed  to  the  winds,  for  the  purpose  of  hindering  the  movement  of  the
sand.
As  for  the  drainage  of  our  littoral  dunes,  it  is  simply  done  by  open  trenches,  at  the
lowest  places,  so  that  the  water  may  flow  into  the  nearest  streams.  But  at  Scheven-
inge,  near  the  Hague,  thero  are  underground  conduits,  and  the  water,  which  is  of  ex-
cellent quality,  is  used  at  the  capital  for  domestic  purposes.
