THE IMPORTANCE OF SHELTER. 393 



because of their ability to withstand onr trying winters, and the partial failure 

 of even some of these during the past winter may well suggest the query 

 whether Ave may not, like the fruit growers of other portions of the northwest, 

 be ultimately driven to resort to the unimpeachably hardy Siberian Crab ! 

 Having thus called attention to the imminence and extent of 



THE DANGER, 



and also to its cause, the question naturally arises, what is the remedy ? or in 

 what direction is it to be sought ? To our mind there seems but one remedy 

 for the errors committed, and that remedy seems to lie in the restoring by 

 planting of a reasonable proportion of woodland, so distributed as shall be 

 found most conducive to the desired end. In the newer regions of the State, 

 however, it may doubtless yet be practicable, in a good degree, to prevent the 

 occurrence of the calamity, by setting aside and preserving properly selected 

 portions of the native growth, to be kept and perpetually renewed as wind- 

 breaks, as heretofore suggested. 



Admitting the magnitude of the evil, and also the sufficiency of the pro- 

 posed remedy, it becomes a serious problem to determine how we are to secure 

 its proper and effective application. 



Some years since, in conjunction with the late Secretary of the State Board 

 of Agriculture, a memorial was drawn up and presented to the Legislature, 

 asking for a report on the general subject, to be published for the benefit of 

 the people of the State, and also for legislation to advance the object. In ac- 

 cordance with such memorial a very able report was prepared and widely pub- 

 lished ; and, at the same time, the highway law was so amended as to provide 

 for and encourage the planting and preservation of 



ROADSIDE TREES. 



But, although these provisions were doubtless wise and judicious, they 

 seem in the main to have failed in securing the object, doubtless for the reason 

 that the great mass of our people have as yet not learned to realize the great 

 and pressing importance of the subject. Under some of the stronger European 

 governments, the cutting of timber is so regulated by law that the process of 

 destruction is kept within what the government considers judicious limits, but 

 in more democratic America we can brook no such restraint, and hence we 

 seem likely to be able to reach the end only by educating the masses of our 

 people. 



We may, however, be allowed to suggest that much might be done by taking- 

 advantage of the very general dislike of taxation, to excite attention to the 

 matter by the passage of a law providing for the planting and preservation of 

 windbreaks of suitable width and density, along the exposed sides of farms, 

 and exempting the land so occupied from the payment of taxes. 



Doubtless it would also be advisable, in some similar manner to encourage 



THE PLANTING OF TREES 



along the borders of fields and about yards and buidings, as well as along 

 highways ; but it is believed that little general attention can be secured, to the 

 subject till the great mass of our agricultural population come to properly 

 realize to how great an extent they are affected, in purse, from lack of 

 acquaintance with the subject. In attempting to secure this result, we would 

 suggest the propriety of the establishment of a State Secretaryship, Bureau, or 



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