2O0 



ARI'.ORICULTURE 



Nebraska's Need of Trees. 



In a public address, J. Stcrliiii^ Morton 

 said : "No state of this union has planted 

 so many trees as Nebraska," and again, 

 "In no state is there a greater acreage 

 of artificial forests than in Xebraska." 



There is no doubt but when this was 

 spoken it was entirely true, but now Kan- 

 sas is going ahead, while Nebraska is 

 lagging in the great tree-planting policy. 

 More than a million forest trees will be 

 planted in Kansas the present season, 

 probably verj^ far more than that num- 

 ber, when one man at Hutchinson will 

 plant 300,000 in one forest. 



The great sweep of prairie between the 

 Missouri river and the base of the Rocky 

 mountains, almost entirely treeless, is a 

 disgrace to the intelligence of the men 

 who are making of Nebraska one of the 

 greatest agricultural states of the world. 

 Much if not all of this is due to the 

 indifference of the farm papers which 

 supply the reading matter of western 

 farmers. Scarce a word in any of the 

 agricultural press offers any information 

 upon the subject. 



Along the Burlington, Union Pacific 

 and various routes of travel one sees 

 here and there a row of Cottonwoods or 

 Box Elders planted about a few — seldom 

 a block of — forest trees, while miles in- 

 tervene with nothing to break the force 

 of the winds of winter or the siroccos of 

 summer, and this in a country where al- 

 most any variety of American forest trees 

 will thrive. 



With proper encouragement by the 

 state legislature, removal of taxes or 

 small bounty paid for the planting and 

 maintenance of timber belts, the entire 

 character of this bleak region could be 

 changed in a few years. It is capable of 

 demonstration that frequent belts of for- 

 est would be of immense benefit to the 

 entire state, and other states similarly sit- 

 uated. 



There are numerous instances where 

 a fine wire fence has caused a snowdrift 

 to completely blockade a public road on 

 these prairies, while every traveler has 

 seen the board fences erected by railways 

 a short distance from deep cuts, to collect 

 the snow before it reaches and fills the 

 cut to blockade the road. 



If a wire fence four feet high, or a 

 board fence of equal height, can cause a 

 reversion of the strong currents of wind, 

 throw it into whirls as shown in these 

 drifts of snow, how much greater must 

 be the effect of a wall of forest trees at 

 frequent intervals ? 



These timber belts guide the air cur- 

 rents upward from the surface, breaking 

 their force and continuity, while on the 

 lea an eddy is formed, the current being 

 reversed and curled upwards, thus forcing 

 the currents to a still higher course, and 

 this effect is maintained for a great dis- 

 tance beyond the obstruction. 



Evaporation during summer is greatly 

 lessened where the protection of a forest 

 belt is given, thus the growing crops have 

 more moisture during period of drouth. 

 Cattle are protected and require less food 

 to maintain continuous growth. 



Farm crops could not be burned up 

 by the siroccos if heavy belts of timber 

 were interposed at frequent intervals, for 

 the cold air above would be mixed with 

 the best surface currents, and the tem- 

 perature reduced at every obstacle of this 

 character. In modern electrical opera- 

 tions various methods are devised to re- 

 tard and turn back the electric current 

 while in flowing water the same laws are 

 observed whereby the current in changed 

 in direction by opposing obstructions. 



In the far western portion of Nebraska 

 are numerous evidences of a former at- 

 tempt at forest growing under the Con- 

 gressional Timber Culture Act. Monu- 

 ments to the errors of planting unsuitod 

 trees under unfavorable conditions, 

 mostly Cottonwoods, and the final aban- 

 donment of all interest in the subject. 



MAINE AFFAIRS. 



At a meeting of the trustees of the 

 University of Maine on April 14, it was 

 voted to establish a department of fores- 

 try at the University, and President Fel- 

 lows was authorized to employ a Pro- 

 fessor of Forestry. The last legislature 

 granted $2,500 a year for the support of 

 this department. 



