THE NEW FORESTRY. 1/3 



in planting. In any case, in order that such belts should 

 cost as little as possible, and at the same time be effective, 

 they should occupy as little land as possible and be dense 

 enough to stop winds. A width of from twenty to thirty yards 

 is enough, and the tall-growing species should be in the 

 middle, and on the sheltered side, and the dense-growing 

 species on the exposed side. The Douglas fir and other 

 spruces are good for the sheltered sides and are tall, and the 

 Austrian and Scotch firs can hardly be beaten for cold 

 exposures especially the first. Among deciduous species 

 none surpass the beech for standing either exposure or shade, 

 hence it may be planted freely on the cold side of belts, and 

 during almost any period of a plantation's existence it may be 

 planted under the shade of the other trees in order to thicken 

 the covert. No thinning is needed in belts, which should be 

 planted thickly at the beginning and encouraged to grow up 

 as soon as possible. Double belts are strips twice the width 

 of single belts, and which, in addition to affording shelter, 

 provide a crop of timber by being cut down alternately, so 

 that the shelter always exists. The rotation period is regu- 

 lated by the age and height of the trees, and while one half 

 of the belt is growing and dense the other half is treated like 

 any other plantation, and finally cleared off and re-planted, 

 the other half being subjected to the same treatment in its 

 turn. There is not much economy in the plan. 



SECTION II. HEDGE-ROW TREES. 



Hedge-row trees are a device of the old planter. Once 

 upon a time, before the principles of timber culture were 

 understood, it was thought that a crop of timber was filched 

 from the land for which the tenant paid a rent, and even yet 

 farm agreements provide for the preservation and care of the 

 hedge-row trees for the landlord. We have often known 

 tenants complain to agents and landlords against hedge-row 

 trees, but never knew of any farmer proposing to plant them. 

 They are of no value whatever to the farmer as shelter, because 

 the cattle invariably destroy the branches up to the shelter 

 line, and the trees destroy all live fences, except beech, where- 

 ever they grow. They also hurt crops by their shade, and 

 they rob the soil by their roots. To the landlord they are 

 equally valueless because there is little demand for the timber, 

 which is too rough, and often full of nails driven in in mending 



