1/2 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 SHELTER BELTS AND HEDGE-ROW TREES. 



SECTION I. BELTS. 



IN an earlier chapter we have alluded to the importance of 

 combining shelter to adjoining lands with the laying out and 

 distribution of the wooded areas, but the, subject of tree belts 

 planted with the special object of shelter to farm stock and 

 crops demands separate notice. No doubt belts, when 

 judiciously laid out, do afford shelter from cold cutting winds 

 during winter and shade in summer ; but from a special 

 acquaintance with the subject on high-lying inland situations 

 we believe that the value of single shelter belts has been 

 much exaggerated. They are non-productive, so far as 

 timber is concerned, for they have to be kept dense, and if the 

 advantages they are supposed to afford in the way of shelter 

 are not equivalent to their cost of maintenance there must 

 be loss instead of gain. Belts are usually planted on north- 

 west, north, and north-east exposures, and consequently, like 

 a north wall in a garden, they have a cold and a warm side, 

 but unlike the wall the cold side is of little utility, for the 

 influence of its cold shade extends just about as far as does 

 its protection on the other side. A belt running east and 

 west on level ground has a distinctly injurious effect on all 

 crops on its northern side, and this is particularly noticeable 

 on grain, turnip, and potato crops. Besides, it is mainly from 

 winds that belts afford protection, as in calm weather their 

 influence is nil. In addition to this, belts occupy land often 

 as good as that which they are planted to shelter. In 

 England belts from thirty to fifty yards wide, and even much 

 wider, are common on estates, often taking up many acres of 

 good land. Strange to say, too, these belts often consist 

 almost wholly of deciduous species, which afford least shelter 

 when it is most needed, viz., in winter. These are some or 

 the merits and demerits of belts, and should be considered 



