68 WESTERN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Trees and Windbreaks, 



BY ANGUS MACKAY. 



There is no subject to-day deserving* more and receiving* 

 less attention from the settlers in the Territories, than the 

 cultivation of trees and windbreaks. Whatever success may 

 have been attained in many districts with cereals and stock, 

 tree-culture may be truthfully said to have not as yet had a 

 beginning*. On our great treeless plains many districts have 

 been settled for ten or fifteen years, but no effort has been 

 made to beautify the homes, protect the fields or buildings, 

 or provide fuel for future years. 



While for some years farmers throughout the country 

 have no doubt had difficulties to overcome, many are now in 

 a position to devote some time to that which will not only 

 afford shelter but will be a safe investment for all time to 

 come. 



Tree, like cereal culture in the Northwest, requires 

 thought, attention and patience before success can be attain- 

 ed. Thought as to what to grow ; attention to planting* and 

 cultivation, and patience while the trees are growing*. 



The great lone land is not favored' with a superabund- 

 ance of moisture, and this want must in some way be over- 

 come or trees cannot thrive. 



Many theories have been advanced as to why the plains 

 are treeless. Some maintain that prairie fires are the sole 

 cause ; others that prairie fires and hot winds are to blame, 

 and others that severe winters and springs, together with 

 unsuitable soil are against the growth of trees. While all 

 these have, no doubt, had great influence over tree life, I 

 think not any one, or all together, may be said to have been 

 the true cause of the barren state of our plains. Want of 

 sufficient moisture has been and will continue to be fatal to 



