248 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



TREE PLANTING 



Some of the farmers in the more thickly settled parts of Ontario are beginning to 

 feel the need of convenient forests from which they may obtain wood for their constant 

 needs. The timbex-ed land remaining on their own farms has, in many cases, become so 

 depleted through careless management that the supply available does not now meet the 

 demands made upon it. As a result of this the farmer is often obliged to go some dis- 

 tance to get the material he desires. The time has now come when it behooves the 

 owner of a farm to consider the value of the wood crop as well as that of his grain or 

 other crops. 



Where timber lands still remain on the farm they should be properly cared for so 

 that they may continue to yield supplies of fuel. It is the custom with many farmers 

 when grass has become scarce during the summer months to let their cattle pasture in 

 the woods ; the result is that the young seedling trees are destroyed, which, if protected, 

 would grow up to replace those which are cut down. This practice should be avoided, 

 if possible. Furthermore, in cutting his trees for fuel the farmer frequently takes those 

 which are in their prime and leaves the largest and partly decayed, which are more diffi- 

 cult to handle. It would be wiser to fell the oldest and most matured trees first and 

 follow with those remaining in the order of their size and age. Judicious cutting is 

 very essential to permanency of the wood supply. Too much care cannot be taken, also, 

 in felling the trees, for if this is done carelessly many young trees will be destroyed. A 

 forest cover, more or less perfect, should also be encouraged, and those favourable con- 

 ditions of moisture maintained which trees require to produce the most vigorous growth. 



Where there is no woodland on the farm, such portions as are too poor to yield 

 good crops, or hillsides that may be inconvenient to cultivate, may be turned with good 

 advantage into a forest if proper measures are promptly taken to plant these areas with 

 trees. Where all the soil is good and there are no hillsides, a belt of trees could be 

 planted along the northern and western sides of the farm, which, while they would 

 serve the purpose of windbreaks, would also become in time valuable for fuel or timber. 



FOREST BELTS AT THE CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



The forest belts at the Central Experimental Farm extend along its northern and 

 western boundaries; the belt on the western boundary is 165 feet wide, and that on 

 the northern boundary, 65 feet ; their total length being nearly 1| miles. The nuiiiber 

 of trees growing in these belts, including those in an evergreen clump, is about 20,500. 

 The objects, for which these forest belts were planted, are well expressed in the report 

 of the director for 1893 as follows : — 



" There were several objects in view in planting the belts of forest trees which 

 line the west and north sides of the farm. One was to test by actual experiment 

 with a number of different species the comparative results in growth and develop- 

 ment to be had by planting at different distances apart. Five feet by five, five feet 

 by ten and ten feet by ten were the distances chosen for these tests. Another question 

 on which information was desired was the relative growth to which trees would attain 

 when planted in blocks of single species as compared with those planted in mixed clumps 

 where they are associated with a number of other sorts. Further information was 

 sought as to how far the crops on the farm located near these tree belts will be influenced 

 by the shelter they would afford as growth progressed. In the planting, the grouping 

 was also designed with the object of producing pleasing effects on the landscape by the 

 intermingling and blending of varieties. The main purpose, however, was to get all the 

 useful data possible with regard to the more important timber trees of economic value 

 so that object lessons in tree growth might be available to any who in future might 

 desire to study this subject or to engage in the enterprise of timber growing." 



Although it is but nine years since the first trees were planted in the belts referred 

 to, tb.-. growtL already made is a useful object lesson and should encourage the more 



