Canadian Forestry Journal, December, 19/9 



503 



THE VALUE OF PRAIRIE WINDBREAKS 



By M. J. Stevenson, Morris, Man. 



One thing that is very conspicuous by its 

 absence on a great many of our prairie farms, 

 is a good wind-break or shelter-belt. 



There can be no question about the benefits 

 to be derived from such planting — both in win- 

 ter and summer. 



If there is a more desolate picture than a farm 

 home situated out on the bare prairie, unpro- 

 tected and besieged by the fierce storms of win- 

 ter, I have failed to see it. Turn your stock 

 out amidst such a scene, when the wind is 

 blowing a gale, and they stand shivering till 

 they are put back in the stable again. It has 

 been demonstrated times without number that 

 ten below zero with the wind blowing a gale, 

 is worse than forty below without wind. 



The moral is: Plant trees, and lots of them, 

 around your farm homes, and you will never 

 regret it. 



In a great many instances people have lived 

 on the bare prairie for twenty or thirty years 

 without planting any trees; or, if they have 

 made the attempt, it has ended in partial or 

 total failure, due in most cases to poor methods 

 of handling or subsequent cultivation. Think 

 of the beauty and comfort they might have been 

 enjoying all these years had they planted in- 

 telligently when they first settled. And this 

 would have been a vastly different looking coun- 

 try to-day. 



In order to be successful, the beginner on 

 the bare prairie must plant only those trees that 

 have proven entirely hardy, such as the Rus- 

 sian willows, box-elder (or Manitoba maple), 

 green ash, white elm, and white birch. Plant 

 these hardy trees on the outside of your pro- 

 posed plantation, and after they have prown 

 a few years and have become somew''iat of a 

 shelter, plant, on the inside, at least a few rows 



of some of our hardier evergreens, such as the 

 white spruce, Colorado blue spruce, jack pine, 

 lodgepole pine, Scotch pine, balsam fir, and 

 native cedar. For, after all, there is nothing 

 like the evergreens either winter or summer. In 

 planting evergreens do not plant them closer 

 than twelve or fifteen feet from the deciduous 

 trees, or they will be overshadowed and will not 

 do well. 



In order to produce best results, your wind- 

 break should consist of at least a dozen rows 

 of trees on the north, west and south of your 

 farm buildings, leaving it open to the east. Be 

 sure you leave yourself sufficient space within 

 the enclosed area for your farm buildings. If 

 you plant your trees too near the buildings, they 

 will catch and hold the snow where it is not 

 wanted. In my experience it is always best to 

 plant three or four rows of willows about one 

 hundred feet north, west and south of your 

 proposed plantation. This will catch and hold 

 the snow in the intervening space; consequently 

 your inside trees will not be broken down by 

 the weight of snow, a circumstance which quite 

 frequently happens. This open space between 

 the trees will make an ideal garden or potato 

 patch. 



PREPARATION OF LAND. 



It is of utmost importance that we have our 

 land in first-class condition before any plant- 

 ing is done. Just here is where most of the 

 failures in tree-planting on the prairie have 

 taken place. Remember moisture is the factor 

 that spells success first, last, and all the time. 

 We must strive to conserve all the moisture we 

 can in the soil, both before and after planting. 

 There is nothing quite as good as a well worked 

 summer-fallow, plowing it as deeply as possible. 

 I find it pays lo summor-lallow two years in sue- 



