By Xia Hanping -- South China Institute of Botany, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
The following photos are of a project conducted along the embankment of North River, I wished very much to plant vetiver on the slope or near to water edge besides the top of the river bank, but the implementing company did not agree, although I strongly advised them to try it. They do not think vetiver could protect the sandy embankment, as they planted bamboo before, but failed! This is truly an ideal place to conduct the research on vetiver's resistance to the water flow. The vetiver seedlings used in the above project came from my nurseries.
The bank of the North River before treatment. Note the ineffectivenss of short rooted local grasses to stop erosion
The river bank smoothed out and reshaped prior to grass treatment
Good quality vetiver planted on the contour and at right anglew to current flow
Another views -- Good quality vetiver planted on the contour and at right anglew to current flow
October 16 2000
To be continued and updated