64 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



(a) As a crop. 



(b) To improve pastures. 



(c) To improve tillable lands. 



(d) As windbreaks. 



(e) To prevent frost. 



(f ) To prevent erosion and gullying - . 



( g) To conserve moisture. 



A few further words may be admissible in explanation of 

 some of these points. As already stated, I do not look to see 

 much done by individuals at present in the way of the plant- 

 ing - of forests simply as a crop. Whether it is not time for 

 our state to take its place with other progressive states in the 

 acquirement of waste lands and in their reforestation is an- 

 other question. 



One of the most discouraging features of our Vermont 

 agriculture is the condition of our pastures. Portions of a 

 great many of them are practically worthless. The steep hill- 

 sides have been beaten upon by wind and storm and washed 

 by the rains until no valuable grass grows on them. The 

 rain that falls on them washes off at once ; the sluble fer- 

 tility is gone. They are too steep, rocky and inaccessible to 

 render tillage and fertilizing profitable. I know of no way in 

 which they can be profitably reclaimed. Now if the hilltops 

 and upper slopes could be covered with forest, I believe two 

 ends would be served. Valuable timber could be produced 

 and the soil renovated. The lower portions would also be 

 improved, through the conservation of moisture by the forest 

 cover. Erosion and gullying would be stopped ; the melting 

 of the snow in the spring would be delayed and more of its 

 moisture rendered available. Every rain that came would, 

 instead of rapidly running off on the surface, be retained by 

 the soil cover under the trees, soak into the ground and grad- 

 ually percolate beneath the surface and be available to supply 

 needed moisture to vegetation lower down. 



In many places, on many farms, a windbreak would have 

 an extremely beneficial effect. It has been found a valuable 

 protection to many orchards. It would also operate to pre- 

 vent the loss of much moisture. Nothing dries up land more 

 than the passage of the air currents over it. It has been 

 said that a windbreak protects a rod of land for each foot of 

 its height. So it will be seen that if properly located its in- 

 fluence is quite extensive. 



Little can be said here as to the kinds of trees to plant 

 or the methods of planting. The white pine is easily the 

 monarch of our trees. It is in forestry what the corn plant 

 is in our agriculture. It is hardy, does well on most soils and 

 its rate of growth is good, though of course it varies greatly. 



