Image Street

In 1911, Massart photographed this dirt road between the fields and pine forests of Sint-Niklaas. The road ran straight ahead for more than one kilometre and was unusually wide. Beeches (Fagus sylvatica) lined the road and in the left foreground was a pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). The double cart track in the loose sand came from a three-wheeled cart. To the left of the dirt road and a little higher, there was a narrow pedestrian path. The ground was harder and easier to walk on. The humus-poor, dry, sandy soils were mainly planted with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The landscape is very characteristic of the large drifting sand ridge that runs through the Waasland and shows the typical alternation between open fields and closed pine forests. The open area on the left was planted with pines shortly before. The original vegetation consisted of sheep grass (Festuca ovina s.l.), bristle grass (Nardus stricta) and bentgrass (Agrostis tenuis), species that grew on poor, acidic soils. A similar vegetation grew on the walls of the shallow ditch, between the field on the right and the dirt road.

Dromos