700 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the settlers who had homes on the open prairies had planted Cottonwood 

 trees. Their rapid growth soon made the settler's grove a land mark by 

 which the traveler was guided on his way. The rapid growth of tn^ 

 white willow, and the more potent consideration that money could he 

 made in selling it caused many willows to be planted. The soft maple 

 was native, and people soon found it was easily grown, and many maples 

 were planted. These two trees, the white willow and the soft maple, have 

 been of untold benefit to this prairie region. They have mitigated the 

 rigor of the climate very materially. The relentless sweep of the arctic 

 winds have been checked, the rate of evaporation has been reduced, the 

 extremes of temperature have been lessened, the total rainfall increased 

 and in general this region has been made a more agreeable place for those 

 who live in it. 



Since the general planting of the willows and maples a few men have 

 tried other trees. Scattered here and there over the country are" shelter 

 belts and groves of evergreen trees. These have their merits and demerits. 

 Comparing the two, the maple and the willow may be said to have the 

 fault of occupying much space, their roots spread widely and monopolize 

 the supply of moisture and the elements of fertility over a wide strip or 

 land. They possess the good qualities of great height to intercept much 

 of the sweeping wind, and good health, adaptability to this location, cheap- 

 ness and rapid growth. 



The evergreens have the advantages of their persistent foliage, mak- 

 ing the same shelter during the entire year and a much less demand on 

 the moisture and fertility of the soil in which they stand, and much less 

 spread of roots thus occupying much less land and making it possible to 

 grow good crops much nearer the row of trees than can be done with the 

 maples or the willows. As objections, they are of less height, and some 

 of them have tops diminishing in width as they ascend, not filling all the 

 space or stopping all the wind. Some of them are of full width at their 

 tops and are not liable to this objection. I feel free to speak on this mat- 

 ter as I am not in this branch of business, and I will say from a knowledge 

 based on considerable experience that a shelter of Scotch pine is the best 

 and the cheapest shelter a farmer can plant. Fewer trees are needed, 

 its root system is deep so as to endure the extremes of our climate, and 

 many desirable plants can be grown under their shelter than elsewhere. 

 If a farmer will plant a single row of good trees of Scotch pine, setting 

 them not closer than sixteen feet and I think wider would be better, give 

 them good care for time enough that they become well established, and 

 then treat them with prudent neglect, he will in a few years have a shelter 

 that no one could buy of him. 



Shelter belts occupy much land, and I think I have an example of an 

 extreme use of them, having three belts on the length of a forty-acre tract 

 and yet leaving one-fourth of the tract unprotected. They are on high 

 priced land and occupy much of it, but I am fully convinced that year 

 by year the product of the remaining part of that tract of land with the 

 shelter belts upon it, is greater than would be the product of the entire 

 tract without them. 



