EXPERIENCE IN GROWING SHELTER BELTS. 141 



In planting shelter belts I want to recommend one thing for the 

 prairies of Dakota and western Minnesota, which I have never heard 

 any one else sugg'est. Plant the trees around your buildings in 

 such shape that the snow will not break them down, and at the same 

 time they will gather and stop the snow so that but little will lie in 

 drifts near your buildings. Farmers should go to the cuts on the 

 railroads for instruction and examples, and study the way that the 

 section men place the snow-fences to protect those cuts from being 

 filled with snow. I suggest that your building plat should be 



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nearly square, and that the buildings should be placed a little to the 

 southeast of the center. Plant two rows of white willows, eight feet 

 apart, all around the outside, and the trees one foot apart in the 

 rows. Four rods inside of this, all around, if you wish, but surely 

 on the north and west, plant two rows more in the same way. Three 

 rods inside of the last two rows on the north and west, plant a third 

 strip of two rows in the same way. By following this plan, I think 

 you will find that after severe storms in winter the mostof the snow 

 will lie in huge drifts in the wide spaces between the rows of willows; 

 and that, except in extremely severe winters when the snow is very 

 deep, little will gather around the buildings. I do not recommend 

 planting wide strips as I have done, because the trees break down 

 so much worse. The strips should never be more than two rods 

 wide, and one rod is much better. 



In growing willows, I have found that the most successful way is 

 lo plow a furrow and lay the trees or limbs in that furrow with 

 notches cut in the willows frequently, and then cover the willows 

 with a hoe, leaving those notches exposed slightly. The best way to 

 grow box elder and ash is from the seed planted right where you 

 want the trees, so as not to have to transplant them. 



I have done some mulching with manure and found it very 

 beneficial. I have planted several kinds of deciduous trees and 

 made them all grow except the walnut and butternut. After fifteen 

 years hard struggling, last summer they were less than four feet 

 high in a grove of Cottonwood and box elders of the same age. I like 

 the white willow the best for strips and the ash for a grove. 



