284 TRANSACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN 



the farmer, who requires a timber lot in proportion to the size of his 

 farm, than for the scientific forester, who will make a specialty of plant-' 

 ing woods and forests. 



Every one will agree that any prairie farm would be improved by 

 having at least one-tenth of its acres in timber, even for the uses of the 

 farm, and our object in these few remarks is to show how we can best 

 accomplish this desirable object; for, aside from the value of the timber 

 when grown, it may be placed in such a manner as to be of great ad- 

 vantage, both in appearance and usefulness, protecting the crops from 

 the prevailing winds, especially valuable in case of the orchard, the 

 barns, the stock and the dwelling. 



We need not go into an elaborate argument to prove that timber 

 is a protection, as nearly every farmer in the West, when riding across 

 the prairie in cold weather, has felt the ameliorating effect of even a 

 little grove of scrub oaks, and not only man, but the brute creation as 

 well, understand it perfectly. Even the little prairie flowers seem to 

 take advantage of it, and dare to put on their summer robes, while their 

 poor relatives on the bleak prairie are still in their winter dresses. 



TIMBER-PLANTING ON LANDS VALUELESS. 



On many farms several acres are of little value for farming purpos- 

 es, owing to the surface being too much broken, and uneven, to ad- 

 mit of the plow, or liable to %vash if plowed. On others, strips or ridges, 

 so sandy as not to admit of growing a crop of corn, grain or grass, 

 at a profit over the cost of cultivation. All such places can be cover- 

 ed with timber that will make a good growth, if the selection is made 

 of kinds suitable to the various kinds of soil. 



On the broken land, if stiff clay, as is often the case, and where the 

 plow cannot be used, it would be advisable to prepare the holes for 

 planting the trees in the fall, with a spade or grub hoe, simply breaking 

 the surface where each tree is to be planted, leaving it to the action of the 

 frost in winter, for this mode should be used for planting trees that 

 have been transplanted in the nursery, and are well rooted and stocky. 



There will be no necessity for planting the trees at exactly equal 

 distances where the plow cannot be used. Four to five feet apart each 

 way would be a good distance for this kind of planting, selecting the most 

 favorable places to set the trees ; where the surface is partially covered 

 with tufts of grass or other herbage, the tearing up in the fall will have 

 destroyed it, and the sods or tufts may be laid on the surface around 

 the tree when it is planted. 



Trees planted on such ground will not make so rapid growth the 

 first two or three years as trees in good, smooth, plowed ground, 

 but after once fairly established they will grow quite as well as on more 

 level land of the same quality of soil. 



There would be nothing gained by disturbing sandy soil in the fall 

 for the purpose of spring planting ; indeed it would be a damage to the 

 land. 



