144 
DISCUSSION, ° 
Mr. C.L. Smith: Those trees were very closely planted, were they 
not? 
Mr. Wheaton: I cannot say about that. 
Mr.C.L.Smith: About twelve years ago we had the same ques- 
tion up about close planting, and I was there to examine those same 
trees, and I found they had been planted two feet apart in the row; 
the thick planting was what enabled them to do as well as they did 
without cultivation. 
Mr. Brand: Wasthat a single row of white spruce, or was it a 
clump of them? 
Mr.C. L. Smith: It was aclump so close that nothing could have 
crawled through them. 
Mr.Cook: Were they in an exposed position ? 
Mr.Smith: Yes, there was nothing else around to shelter them. 
Mr. Dartt: The white pine would have done as well. 
Mr. T. T. Smith: In the course of Mr. Wheaton’s remarks he spoke 
of planting trees too close together. I would like to ask him what 
distance he would suggest planting evergreens for windbreaks? 
Mr. Wheaton: Fora good shelter belt I think from eight to twelve 
feet is close enough, if you have two rows from twenty to forty feet 
apart. 
Mr. T. T. Smith: I had some Norway spruce that were planted in 
1872 that continued to grow and never lost a branch; others were 
trimmed quite free from the ground and died, and those that were 
not trimmed at all lived. I planted them in clumps about ten feet 
apart, sometimes twenty in a clump. 
Mr. Dartt: Inthis paper we havea statement of facts in favor of 
the Scotch pine, and I want to offer another fact. I have a wind- 
break of Scotch pine on the west side of the tree station at Owa- 
tonna; itis not a very long one, but it is a windbreak, nevertheless. 
It was planted about eight or nine years ago, I planted a single 
row of Scotch pine. They were set about four feet apart in the row, 
and they were allowed to come pretty close down to the ground, and 
they have grown up so that that single row would make a pretty 
fair windbreak where the snow would drift in pretty deep; it would 
hold a drift ten feet high—just one single row. ButI would advise 
planting two rows and planting them six to eight feet apart in the 
row. Cultivate them alittle and get them started right, and you 
will have a good windbreak, 
Mr. Harris: My old theory of planting evergreen windbreaks 
used to be to plant the trees in the row, four to six feet apart, 
putting the rows about eight feet apart and breaking joints, but it 
makes a better windbreak if planted in one row, and if planted four 
feet apart it would be better to remove one-half of them. If you are 
going to have double rows, I would have them twenty feet distant 
instead of six. 
Mr. Wedge: Iam a good deal interested in this question. I con- 
fess that ten years ago I knew more about the evergreen business 
than I do today, and even three or four years ago I thought I knew 
the Scotch pine was adapted to any situation in Minnesota. At the 
