CHAPTER IV. 



TREE PLANTING ON PRAIRIES. 



The subject of tree planting in this section naturally divides 

 itself under the two heads of prairie planting and forest planting. 

 The former relates to the limited planting of trees on our prairies 

 for ornament, protection and use. and the latter to the care and 

 management of timber lands and the planting of trees for profit 

 from their growth. Our people are very generally impressed 

 with the importance of prairie planting for protection and orna- 

 ment, but are too prone to regard the care and management of 

 timber lands for the production of timber crops as a matter of 

 little concern and very impracticable. (The subject of the regen- 

 eration of forests is treated in the chapter on Forest Planting and 

 Treatment.) 



PRAIRIE PLANTING. 



Whatever the ulterior object of prairie planting, the subject of 

 protection to the buildings, their occupants and the cattle in the 

 field should always be first considered. Our crops in this sec? 

 tion are most liable to injury from the southwest wind of sum- 

 mer, which dries them out, and the northwest wind of winter, 

 which blows the snow from the land, causing it to lose the snow 

 water. It also causes a loss of evaporation, which goes on even 

 in winter from the bare ground, and from exposed crops, causing 

 them to winter-kill. The same winds are also the most uncom- 

 fortable to the occupants of farm buildings, and are most likely to 

 cause dust storms, which should be especially guarded against. 



Windbreak is a general name given to anything that q^ives 

 protection from wind. On the prairies it is often applied to a 

 single row of trees planted for protection. 



Shelterbelt is a term more often used to signify several or 

 a large number of rows of trees, but the term is often used inter- 

 changeably with windbreak. 



Grove is a term that refers to comparatively large bodies 

 of trees which may be planted for shelter, fuel or other purposes. 



