82 PRACTICAL FOEESTEY. 



animals. His crops also need to be stirred by gentle 

 breezes to keep them in health and insure vigorous 

 growth, for a stagnant atmosphere is no more to be 

 desired than stagnant pools of water, but unfortunately, 

 man in his anxiety to secure a large area of land for 

 cultivation, allows his greed of gain to get the better of 

 his judgment, and the onslaught on the forests continues 

 until there is no shade or protection from the hot rays of 

 the sun that parch and dry up his fields, and instead of 

 opening the way to gentle life-giving breezes, he has 

 admitted the fierce winds and tornadoes. On the con- 

 trary the j^ioneers on the plains and prairies, need, not 

 only protection from the fierce I'ays of the sun in summer, 

 but against the winds which sweep over those regions 

 with a violence and frequency only known to those who 

 have encountered them at all seasons and in all kinds of 

 weather. 



How to begin in order to get trees growing in such 

 numbers as will afford shelter and protection, is what 

 most interests those who have resolved to make them- 

 selves a home on the prairie. They are not, as a rule, 

 very particular as to the kind planted, because a tree of 

 any species is so much gain, and a thing to be admired, 

 appreciated, and tenderly cared for. Admitting that 

 every tree raised is a gain, and a step towards securing 

 what is so generally sought by those residing in sparsely 

 wooded regions, it may be well, at the same time, to take 

 into consideration in advance of planting, not only the 

 present, but also the future value of the kinds to be 

 employed in forming screens, wind-breaks, or- even more 

 extensive plantations. The poplars and willows have 

 been most extensively planted, probably, because they 

 could be easily obtained and readily propagated by 

 cuttings. They also grow rapidly even under what may 

 be termed unfavorable conditions, but the wood is very 

 inferior, and while it is better than none, it does not 



