150 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and despairing look, reminding one of the Knight of the Rueful 

 Countenance. The apples are few in number, small in size and 

 gnarly in shape. 



What shall we say then? Shall the shelter belt be condemned 

 altogether? I answer, "No," at least, not until it has been given 

 a thorough and satisfactory test. I think there is a way in which 

 valuable protection can be afforded, and I would like to see it tried 

 by some of our horticultural friends, who are not in the business 

 " for revenue only," amateurs who have a taste for the beautiful, and 

 who think there is something worth striving for besides " chops and 

 tomato sauce," or even " sirloin and sundown." Here is the plan : 

 Two rows of Scotch pines, one rod apart, and trees one rod distant 

 in the row, a row of junipers, half way between the pines, set in 

 quincunx order. Let this treble row be twenty rods long, and run 

 east and west. A half rod north of the north row of pines, plant a row 

 of currants — they will do well at that distance from the evergreens 

 for several years. One-half rod further north, put a row of plums. 

 Now you have got where it is safe to plant apple trees; so, half a rod 

 further north, set your first row of them, and at a distance of another 

 rod plant the second row. This will bring you to a line two and a 

 half rods from the pines, and you may live to see the day when the 

 trees will be shaded by the shelter belt; if not your children will. 

 Here I will digress enough to say that he who plants evergreens to 

 protect his orchard need not think he is working for next year. He 

 must be content to wait two decades for results. When the pines in 

 our proposed row shall be fifty feet high, they will have a decided 

 influence upon the second row of apple trees, the first having been 

 protected for several years. 



Next, one rod still further north, plant a row of hardy hybrid or 

 iron-clad standards not liable to sun-scald; then a row of plums a 

 half rod distant, and a row of grapes (which do best when sheltered 

 from the north), and you have got within one-half rod of the second 

 shelter belt, which runs parallel with the one described, — is planted 

 in the same way, and serves for the basis of the next division of the 

 orchard. Raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, dwarf cherries, 

 buffalo berries, dewberries, service berries, etc., may be planted, 

 according to the taste of the owner, along the rows nearest the ever- 

 greens, taking care to set those that will endure shade the best on 

 the north side, and those that demand the hot sun on the south 

 side. These evergreens may be continued across both ends of the 

 orchard, in which case, the north and the south rows must be set 

 back far enough to allow of a passage way for teams to go in and 

 out at the four corners. 



This plan, I think, offers all the protection possible to be obtained 

 by shelter belts. If the rows are placed nearer together,the trees of the 

 orchard will be too much shaded; if placed further apart, too many 

 fruit trees will be unprotected. As a windbreak, it cannot be sur- 

 passed, and whatever advantages may be derived from any attempts 

 to prevent evaporation will be secured in the highest degree by this 

 method. The area outlined will cover two and a quarter acres, and 

 provide for 240 apple trees, and 160 each of plums, grapes, currants 



