59 



to your neighbours, or they may be used in the extension of your own shelters ; at any 

 rate they will have already served a good purpose by rendering the screen more effective 

 — they have paid their way. 



The planting, particularly of evergreens, should be done in the spring, and care 

 should be taken to preserve the roots from exposure to the sun and wind. If these deli- 

 cate organs be once desiccated they never recover. 



Planting small trees is a very simple operation, and may be thus performed on land 

 prepared as already directed : a spit of the mellow soil of the furrow is lifted with a 

 spade, the little tree is placed, its roots are spread out and the earth from the spade is 

 thrown upon them — this needs to be well pressed by the foot, so as to bring it in close 

 contact with the librous roots and exclude the air as thoroughly as possible — sufficient 

 mellow soil is then thrown about the tree, so that it shall be buried rather deeper than 

 it had been previously. Two men with spades and a boy with trees may constitute a 

 team for this work, and carry two rows. A favourite plan in Iowa is to employ the small 

 force in a single furrow that has been freshly deepened by the plow. One man follows 

 the boy, setting the trees with his hands and tramping with his feet, so as to make them 

 stand to the line, while a second follows with a hoe or shovel and draws in the earth. 

 A cultivator or double-shovel plough is then passed along each side of the row. 



The plantation should be well cultivated and kept clean for a few years, longer or 

 shorter, according to the thriftiness of the species, but until the trees shade the ground, 

 when they will take care of themselves. Cattle must be rigidly excluded. 



Various combinations of species have been recommended for these belts, but, as a rule, 

 in forestry, it should be borne in mind that evergreens and deciduous trees do not succeed 

 so well when mixed as when each class is massed separately. To this there may be some 

 apparent exceptions — the European Larch, and the Scotch Pines, or Norway Spruces are 

 often found in the same group doing well together — so in nature we sometimes find similiar 

 admixtures ; but all the evergreens would be likely to suffer if they were mingled in a 

 plantation with the rapid growing and umbrageous elms, cottonwoods, maples, and other 

 broad-leafed trees. Beautiful and effective for shelter as are the evergreen conifers, how- 

 ever, these native deciduous species cannot be ignored, nor should they be neglected nor 

 dispensed with by the farmers who may desire as quickly and as cheaply as possible to 

 produce an effect in the shelter-belts. Let such an one begin with the poplars, willows, 

 or with any other trees and cuttings that are at hand, always excepting the so-called 

 Lombardy Poplar, which as an ornamental (1) shade (?) tree already shows its aspiring 

 head in some of the western towns of the Dominion. 



Indeed, both classes of trees may be happily combined without mingling them pro- 

 miscuously ; they may be planted in the same belt but in separate rows, putting the 

 sturdy native deciduous kinds in a few rows on the outside, using the cottonwoods, 

 white willows, etc., which grow freely from cuttings, and which rapidly produce an 

 effective screen ; next to these may come the elms, the oaks, maples, or white ash, and 

 other kinds. These thickly set will soon rise and form a protection to the evergreens. 



Mr. H. G. Joly, in the sixth report of the Montreal Society (for 1888), speaks in 

 high praise of his cottonwoods, which, in twenty-three years, had attained the height of 

 sixty feet with a diameter of twenty-five inches. This is a remarkable growth truly, and 

 though the timber be not of superior value, the desired shelter is very quickly produced, 

 and, as he wisely suggests, it will aid in protecting other trees. One form of the cotton- 

 wood is a great favourite in Scotland, where it is called the Black Italian Poplar, and 

 perhaps the same kind is planted extensively in parts of France, where it is known as the 

 Peuplier du Canada. 



The European w-hite willow (Salix alba) is another tree of similar characters — easily 

 multiplied by cuttings, of rapid growth, and largely employed in prairie regions for wind 

 breaks and shelters. When matured these soft-woods will be found to have great value 

 for many purposes, though inferior to hard woods and resinous trees either for lumber or 

 for fuel. The charcoal used in the manufacture of gunpowder is almost exclusively pre- 

 pared from the white willow. 



But your own native trees claim your consideration, and, as appears from your trans- 

 a,ctions, they have received deserved attention in your discussions. The noble American 



