644 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



suits. Since we can not place the blame upon nature for our failures in 

 growing evergreens, we must find someone else that is culpable. The 

 three reasons for so few successful windbreaks may be these: First, a 

 large number of Iowa farms are rented; second, a great many farmers 

 have not been educated to appreciate the value of windbreaks, and, third, 

 the farmers who set out evergreens often fail to give them proper care at 

 the right time. 



Too many farm owners, who rent their farms, say that it does not pay 

 to set out evergreens because the renters will not take care of them. If 

 they but knew how much a windbreak adds to the value of a farm, simply 

 as a protection and an ornament, they would be very willing to set the 

 trees themselves and care for them. 



There are many farmers who do not know the use and the value of trees. 

 They know that trees will break the wind, that trees around farm build- 

 ings will keep them warmer than buildings in the open, and that trees 

 make lumber and firewood. Few understand the influence of trees upon 

 the evaporation or the cultivation of moisture, or the influence on temper- 

 ature in the time of cold winds of winter and hot and dry winds of sum- 

 mer. No one can fully appreciate the value of trees unless he understands 

 the scientific problems in which they are involved. If these reasons are 

 not valid as to why there are not more windbreaks in Iowa, there is still a 

 greater reason, and that is found in the lack of care and attention after 

 the trees have been planted. A man may buy the best grade of evergreens, 

 set them in his richest soil and fence out the poultry and stock, but if his 

 efforts end there his success is in danger. In the busy rush with farm 

 crops the farmer too often neglects mulching his evergreens and water- 

 ing them in dry seasons. 'Tis only a little work if done at the proper time 

 that will insure success provided the rest of the work has been carefully 

 done. 



The kind of trees is the question that troubles many, while others bare- 

 ly give it a second thought. Most buyers want a tree that will grow fast 

 and will give quick returns on the investment, and they do not stop to 

 think that the fast-growing tree is the shortest lived and usually of the 

 poorest quality. For quick growing trees which will do well on coarse 

 and gravelly soils the Scotch pine can be recommended. It reaches a 

 height of 25 to 30 feet in from ten to fifteen years, according to the kind 

 of soil and the amount of moisture. At maturity it is a coarse, open 

 tree with crooked trunk and irregular branches. It should be planted 

 with other higher growing trees so that after these have grown large 

 enough the Scotch pine may be cut out. The Austrian pine is a more 

 valuable tree, because it is more regular and straighter in its habit of 

 growth and equally as hardy. Its color is a darker green and the leaves 

 are longer. 



Perhaps the two most common and most largely planted evergreens in 

 this State are the white pine and the Norway spruce. Both are long lived 

 trees, very hardy and sturdy growers in proper conditions. The white 

 pine is considered among the best of windbreak trees because of its density 

 of foliage, its height and symmetry. It branches low and is wide spread- 

 ing, making a solid, compact windbreak. The Norway spruce, while not 

 so long lived, perhaps is more hardy when young and not so tender rooted. 



