FOREST CULTIVATION ON THE PLAINS. 329 



Ou all the plains proper — aud the greater prairies of the wcbterii parts 

 of Kansas aud Minnesota should be classed as plains — the special deli- 

 ciency of timber is such that every iuducement exists to cultivate forests 

 as a source of profit. The sweep of the fires by which the native forest 

 has been kept down needs only to be averted to favor the most liberal 

 growth of either deciduous or evergreen trees. The value of the pro- 

 tection tree-plantations give can at once be realized, and while co-opera- 

 tion aud legislative aid are desirable in the highest degree, there is still 

 a certain reward within reach of every single and isolated planter. 

 Protection against the sweep of surface-winds, especially in winter and 

 spring, is a great need of the prairies, even in Illinois ; and a practical 

 comparison of their pi-oductiveness when partially sheltered, as is so 

 common through the natural oak-openings of Wisconsin, shows a great 

 preference over the entirely naked rolling prairie. Lands so sheltered 

 can be more profitably cropped than the unsheltered rolling prairies, 

 esi^ecially in wheat. The requisite detail as to modes of planting, and 

 to classes and varieties of timber trees, has been clearly explained in 

 several publications by practical cultivators. The commissioners ap- 

 pointed under an act to promote the growth of forest-trees of the State 

 of Wisconsin have, in their reports, thoroughly treated the practical 

 questions of actual planting. Many other official reports and private 

 publications have urged the same general policy, and have explained 

 the conditions of its operation for different localities. All these writers 

 ascribe important modifications of the local climate to the influence of 

 belts or bodies of woodland, and in no case have results been reported 

 adverse to the hope of such benefits. 



Under these circumstances the time is particularly favorable for legis- 

 lative action, inciting or positively requiring tree-planting as a condi- 

 tion of the original disposal of the public lauds. Public opinion is so 

 favorable on the point of anticipation of personal profits to every 

 planter that no burden would be imposed by such legislation which 

 would not be returned to every landholder directly ; the general benefit 

 resulting would be additional to the personal benefit. No more favora- 

 ble circumstances for initiating measures on the part of the General 

 Government could be expected in any case. 



In common cultivation extraordinarily favorable effects are produced 

 by the simple process of mulching ; covering the surface with some light, 

 loose mass, composed of vegetable matter undergoing slow decomiio- 

 sition, if possible, but nearly the same benefits are realized by covering 

 the surface with material affording i^rotection simply. Soils that would 

 otherwise harden to absolute imperviousuess, and destroy the local 

 vegetation in consequence, are by mulching kept uniformly moist 

 through long periods of absence of rain. The same principles apply to 

 a forest-covered surface; loose deposits of leaves usually practically 

 mulch the actual surface, retaining moisture for a long time after its 

 absolute loss on open f)lains; and, in addition, the entire depth of the 

 forest is in a moistened and moderated condition, holding more or less of 

 the products of constant evaporation, and tempering the winds which 

 sweep over it by absorption of heat and diffusion of humidity. The 

 agency of forests in such surface modification cannot fail to be great in 

 the moderate climate of the latitudes of the plains. At higher temper- 

 atures, and with an intrinsically barren surface, the resulting influence 

 might not be perceptible, but cool as the summers are at any i^oint from 

 the thirty-eighth to the forty-ninth parallel, the surface-winds need only 

 slight accessions of humidity to rob them of special aridity. 



