196 



Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 



Observation by Alba Briggs in July 

 1939, in York County and adjoining 

 areas in Nebraska, showed a markedly 

 beneficial effect in reducing the firing 

 of corn the drying up of foliage in 

 hot, windy weather. ^ Benefits were 

 greatest on the north side of belts and 

 to some extent on the east side. Ob- 

 servations on 8 fields showed no dam- 

 age out to 11 to 40 tree heights, with 

 an average of 23 times the height of the 

 trees. Tree heights ranged from 18 to 

 50 feet and averaged about 35 feet. On 

 the south side of Osage-orange hedges 

 of 18- to 20-foot height, accentuated 

 damage to the corn was observed out 

 to 5 tree heights. On the west side, the 

 adverse effect extended from 30 to 40 

 feet due to firing and sapping. These 

 observations were not carried through 

 to assess values in terms of actual final 

 crop yields, but they show a similarity 

 to many of the yield measurements. 



An 8-year-old shelterbelt near Nor- 

 folk, Nebr., played an important part 

 in helping its owner, Ernest Fuhram, to 

 win the 1947 corn-yield contest for his 

 county. His 10-acre test plot made 106 

 bushels of corn an acre. Mr. Fuhram 

 said, " I had 90 acres of corn north of 

 the shelterbelt, including the 10-acre 

 test plot, and it was quite evident that 

 the protection the trees gave the field 

 made a lot of difference last year. The 

 best corn was near the shelterbelt and 

 the yield tapered off as the distance 

 from the trees was increased." 



In irrigated areas, shelterbelts can be 

 of considerable value in reducing water 

 loss from evaporation. From Scotts 

 Bluff County, Nebr., it is reported that 

 in growing alfalfa an irrigated field 

 protected by shelterbelts required one 

 less irrigation a season than unpro- 

 tected fields on nearby farms. 



Tree belts trap snow and hold it on 

 agricultural land, especially in the 

 northern and central Great Plains. 

 Hence, some measure of moisture con- 

 servation is attained, because in un- 

 protected areas much of the snow is 

 blown into gulches, low spots, and road 

 ditches, where it is of no direct benefit 

 to the crop. Good agronomic prac- 



tices, such as leaving tall stubble over 

 winter, standing strips of cornstalks, or 

 unmowed sweetclover, can also retain 

 much of the snow on the land. A com- 

 bination of shelterbelt planting and 

 strip cropping is undoubtedly the best. 

 In a number of soil-moisture sam- 

 plings made in the spring of 1936, 

 there was about 4 percent more avail- 

 able moisture (or 2.5 inches of water) 

 in the top 4 feet of soil between the 

 tree belts and a point four times the 

 average tree height to leeward. This 

 additional moisture, largely accumu- 

 lated from snowdrifts trapped by the 

 belts, may at times be the difference 

 between a fair crop and a complete 

 crop failure. 



IN DEVELOPING A SHELTERBELT, the 



present-day tree planter can progress 

 with a great deal of assurance, especi- 

 ally if he will seek the assistance of his 

 local State or Federal forester, county 

 agent, or district conservationist. 



Although many details involved in 

 the successful establishment of a wind- 

 break or shelterbelt must be worked 

 out to meet local needs, a number of 

 fundamental principles contribute to 

 success, irrespective of the locality or 

 conditions under which windbreaks or 

 shelterbelts may be planted. 



Careful preparation of the site, good 

 planting with hardy stock, and thor- 

 ough cultivation are three factors that 

 go hand in hand. When all three are 

 well done, the results are sometimes 

 spectacular, but one cannot slight one 

 of them and hope to make up for it 

 by intensive application of the others. 



Good site preparation means thor- 

 ough tillage and, if the soil is weedy or 

 dry, summer fallowing for a season. 

 Some sites call for subsoiling, others 

 terracing, contour planting, or, in the 

 drier regions, diking and building of 

 water-diversion structures. 



It is extremely important that the 

 planting stock be grown from seed pro- 

 duced in the general locality in which 

 the trees are to be planted. This is 

 one of the principal contributing fac- 

 tors to the unusual success of the shel- 



