THE PINEHURST OUTLOOK.
2
RHYMES FOR THE SEASON.
Football.
Heboid that yeasty, seething mass,
Legs, arms, all in a clump!
The reason why it seethes is plain :
Two 'levens are in the lump.
Boston Post.
A Dreadful Moment.
When autumn days prow bright ami cold,
And garnered is the fruit,
The prudent man puts on his old,
His well-saved winter suit.
Then rides to town without a care
To vex his peaceful breast,
Until he finds, when asked for fare,
2so dimes in last year's vest.
Boston Post.
In llreexy November.
When the air is nipping, nipping,
And the grip is gripping, gripping,
And you run ah-choo, ah-chooing,
There is little joy in viewing
What your lively hat is doing,
O'er the pavement, skipping, prancing,
As behind it you go dancing.
No! The rapture's in the capture,
Not at all in the pursuing.
Boston Post.
BATTLE WITH THE ELEMENTS.
Effort of the State of Massachusetts to
Reclaim Cape Cod from tlie Encroach
ment of the Kami.
Boston, Xov. 7, 1898.
Fur out on the tip end of Cape Cod, be
yond the little town of Provincetowu,
which is the last town in the Common
wealth of Massachusetts ; beyond every
thing in fact but the broad Atlantic, lies
a barren, wind-blown tract of sand
dunes, where is going on one of the most
remarkable battles between man's ingen
uity and the will of the elements that
has ever been undertaken on this conti
nent. This tract of mobile sand, driven
by the strong northerly winds that pre
vail in winter, is gradually moving south
ward toward Provincetowu, and to keep
it from burying the town and tilling in
the harbor is the work that the Harbor
and Land Commission of Massachusetts
has set itself to do. To one who knows
the place and the resistless fury of the
winds that sweep across it the work
would at first glance seem well-nigh
hopeless, but a foothold against the in
roads of the sand has already been se
cured, and the commissioners are confi
dent that in time, not only can the ad
vance of the sand be checked, but the
whole outside of the cape reclaimed, and
changed again to what it originally was,
a wooded tract of wonderful fertility.
The lands on which this work is being
done are known as the province lands,
for the reason that they have always
been province or state property. They
were originally purchased from the In
dians by the colony of New Plymouth,
and came into the possession of the
province of Massachusetts Bay in 1G92
with the other lands and possessions of
Plymouth colony, the possession of
course continuing to the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts when the province be
came a state. They include three thou
sand acres lying on the outside end of the
Cape, which are generally spoken of as
the province lands, and also about seven
hundred lying along the shores of Prov
incetowu harbor, on a part of which
tract the town is built. In this section
the dwellers are really nothing more than
squatters, holding a sort of temporary
title from the Harbor and Land Commis
sioners, but except in the case of some
flagrant abuse, there is no likelihood of
these titles ever being revoked. Oil the
province lands proper however, the case
is different. There no titles are given,
and the few squatters are likely to be
removed at any time, as the commission
ers can ailbrd to have no interference
with the work that they are doing.
To appreciate this work a short de
scription of the place is necessary. The
province lands may be divided into two
well-defined parts; one a belt of wood
land covered with a thick growth of
hardy trees, and lying next to the town,
and the other the expanse of sand before
mentioned. This belt of sand is contin
ually widening and spreading to the
southward, eating into and smothering
out the wooded belt, and moving on
toward the town. Its movement is in
character exactly like the wave motion
of water, and its appearance is that of a
sea of sand across which are sweeping
three gigantic tidal waves. The first of
these is well out toward the sea, the sec
ond about half-way to the belt of wood
land and the third close in on the edge of
the woods. The strong winds cut into
the exposed northerly sides of these
waves, or dunes, clearing them of all
vegetation, and sweep the sand over onto
the southerly side, so that the dunes are
all the time moving to the southward.
At present, as has been said, there are
but three dunes, but when these have
moved far enough, a fourth will be
formed, and then a fifth, and when the
three have become six the foremost will
have covered the town of Provincetown,
passed over it, and be pouring over into
the harbor.
To anyone unfamiliar to the locality
this danger might seem to be exagger
ated, but it is in fact very real and immi
nent. Even on a moderately still day in
mid-summer there are not wanting to an
observant eye signs of the steady advance
of the sand.
All along the upper edges of the dunes
may be seen a little fine spray of
sand, working steadily over to the south
ward, and if one goes over to the land
ward side of the first dune he can see it
pouring into the woods there, killing out
and burying the vegetation. Half-way
up the slope, twigs may be seen sticking
out. They are from the topmost limbs
of tall trees, buried under the sand. Dig
down far enough on the windward slope
of this same dune and there you will find
fragments of trees long ago killed and
crushed to pieces in the same way. On
every hand the track of the insidious
enemy is plain.
But these are only signs, and to see
the work of destruction itself, one should
be on the dunes when the wild north
easter is whooping down the coast and
the great breakers are roaring on the
outside of the Cape. The man does not
live who can raise his head and look to
windward in that blast, for the driving
sand would cut the eyes out of his head
in a very few seconds. The only men
ever found on the dunes in a storm are
the members of the Uic-saving patrol,
and to them the driving sand is one of
the worst hardships of their rough and
perilous existence. They all grow heavy
beards, and in a storm wear heavy muf
flers or knitted helmets that cover the
face all but the eyes, but in spite of these
precautions it is no uncommon thing for
them to have their faces cut by the sand
until they are of the consistency of raw
beef. At the life-saving stations it is
continually necessary to replace the glass
in the windows, as the sand grinds the
surface in a short time, so that it is
nearly impervious to light. A man
eaught out on the dunes in a storm, who
does not know them as he knows the in
terior of his own house, is irretrievably
lost for a few minutes of storm entirely
wipes out the rough roads that cross the
waste, and it is impossible to see more
than a few yards in any direction.
"With these conditions realized it is evi
dent that the work of reclaiming this
section is not an easy one, and yet it has
been demonstrated that it can be done.
A good sized area lias already been prac
tically reclaimed, and this area is being
rapidly extended. The way in which
this is done is by holding the sand down
by covering it with vegetation. To the
casual visitor to the province lands this
might seem an impossible thing, as sand
is generally considered a synonym for
sterility, and the province lands are
nothing but sand, there being in the
whole three thousand acres not a stone
as large as a pea. As a matter of fact
however the tract is one of remarkable
fertility, as is shown by the growth on
the wooded belt lying next to the town.
Here the conditions are precisely the
same, the onljr dill'erence being that on
to) of the sand there is a layer a few
inches deep of a light fibrous loam, de
posited by the plants and trees that cover
the whole tract. The vegetable growth
here is as varied and interesting as in any
place in the state of Massachusetts.
There is a strong thick growth of black
oak, pitch pine, beech and many other
trees, and underneath them there is a
heavy tangled thicket of wild rose privet,
bayberry and thousands of other plants,
many of them of the greatest interest to
botanists on account of their rarity.
These all h ive their roots in the sand
and it is from the sand that they draw
their sustenance. In fact the outside
belt was at one time covered with the
same heavy growth, but the towns
people, by cutting trees and stripping
the sod gave the wind a hold, and the
process of destruction has steadily gone
on ever since. Beside being very rich,
the sand has an unending supply of
moisture. Five minutes after the heavi
est rain the surface is perfectly dry, but
on the crest of the highest dune, moist
ure may always be found by turning up
a few inches of sand on the surface.
The first step in the reclamation is to
plant beach grass on the windward side
of the outermost dune, and the grass that
is used for this outermost barrier has
been transplanted, being taken from
sheltered places along the inner side of
the tract. The experience of three
years has shown that with careful watch
ing this grass will secure a foothold, and
there is but little doubt that the sand
could be held in place by this means
alone, but it would require continual
supervision, as the wind frequently
makes cuts through the vegetation,
which if not filled in would widen ; and
things would soon be in as bad a condi
tion as ever. In order to prevent this
the spaces between the bunches of beach
grass are filled in with hardy, fibrous
plants, the two that have been found the
best for the purpose being Scotch broom
and tamarix. These two plants are of a
tough and wiry nature, and have an im
mense growth of roots, which in a short
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THE OUTLOOK;
Pinehurst, N. C.
HOME MADE BREAD
Can be obtained at the store.
Cooked Meats and Pastry should be
Ordered the day before needed.