160 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



ing another two hours' labor; today the lot average ten feet high 

 and three inches in diameter. I was recently crossing a very 

 poor, sandy farm ; so poor that in places the sand drifted. Across 

 this farm ran a belt of oaks twenty to thirty feet in breadth, which 

 had sprung up in the line of an old fence. Choppers were at 

 work cutting these into fire-wood, and the yield did not vary 

 much from a cord on every two rods in length of the belt. Count- 

 ing the grains showed the time of production to be about twenty- 

 five years ; certainly not a bad crop for such land. Where fences 

 have remained, for a long time undisturbed, we frequently see 

 lines of young trees, ten or twenty feet high. Very energetic and 

 tidy farmers count these as blemishes ; evidence of slipshod 

 farming. On their farms the fences are frequently moved, and 

 the young trees grubbed out. Yet it is possible that such tree 

 lines, in a thirty years' run, might compare favorably with the 

 average value of other crops, and if such lines are on the west or 

 north side of the farm, where shelter is needed, it is more than 

 possible that we might profitably add to them by planting and 

 culture, until they grow into close and thrifty timber belts from 

 ten to twenty rods in breadth. 



" We cannot spare the land," is a common excuse for not plant- 

 ing. If every acre of the farm is highly cultivated and made to 

 produce up to its full capacity, then this excuse may be valid, 

 but if only the half of this be true, then we may thoughtfully con- 

 sider the policy of fewer acres and letter culture, thus releasing a 

 part from annual cropping, and placing it under tree growth, 

 which may, with very little labor, at some future time, yield a 

 rich and abundant harvest. 



To the dweller on the broad, open prairie, there can be no two 

 sides to this timber question. Abundant and cheap lands ; scarce 

 and dear fuel and lumber ; burning straw and hay, and even the 

 golden corn, all of which could be more profitably utilized ; haul- 

 ing his scant supply of lumber twenty or forty miles ; parched 

 and dried by summer winds, and pelted by winter storms, that 

 strike him with the accumulated force of five hundred miles' un- 

 broken sweep ; if alive to his best interests, he will hasten to 

 plant broad acres with trees, and to place dense timber belts 

 between his buildings and the prevailing winds. 



