Canadian Forestry Journal, March, ip^o 



which will give a satisfactory yield 

 of hay or pasture in a dry season in 

 the dry belt. Annual sown crops 

 under such conditions will give a 

 more satisfactory yield. The dry belt 

 was a "short grass country" before 

 it was put unde cultivation, and the 

 grass has yet to be found that will 

 turn a dry region into a "long grass 

 country." 



There is the difficulty of securing 

 a catch of grass seed under arid con- 

 ditions and on drifting soils. Land 

 must be summer-tilled every second, 

 or third year to store up moisture to 

 produce a crop, either by summer- 

 fallow or inter-tilled crops. Summer- 

 fallow causes soil-drifting, but is 

 necessary to crop production. In an 

 old settled country, tenant farmers 

 cannot adopt a rotation which in- 

 cludes grasses. They work on the 

 short term lease system, and a grass 

 rotation would be • unprofitable to 

 them. 



Again grass means stock, stock 

 means that good buildings are neces- 

 sary. At present the high cost of 

 building material and of labor makes 

 grain farming more profitable than 

 stock farming. In other districts the 

 lack of water makes grain growing 

 the only kind of farming which can 

 be carried on. 



Methods to prevent and control 

 soil-drifting must be carried out by 

 all in the district affected, or they 

 will fail. It has been found that if 

 a shelter-belt is twenty feet in height 

 it will protect the field for one thou- 

 sand feet from wind. Under average 

 conditions a shelter-belt will reach 

 that height in six or seven years after 

 planting. 



It is suggested that the scheme be 

 experimented with first in a given 

 area, and if found practical, carried 

 out by co-operation between federal, 

 provincial and municipal authorities. 

 It could be financed by bond issues 

 paid off by taxation of the lands bene- 



fited. Adoption of th escheme should 

 l)e o])tional with rural municipalities 

 l;y jjopular vote. Central nurseries 

 would be established in each given 

 area to grow the necessary trees. 



There is one objection to the adop- 

 tion of this scheme, and that is that 

 the winter roads would be made im- 

 passable by snow drifts from the 

 shelter-belts. This is not as serious 

 as it seems, for in a district where 

 shelter-belts were universal, snow- 

 drifting would be greatly lessened. 

 Winter roads are not impassable in 

 bluffy districts throughout the West. 

 The winter roads could be made 

 across the farms, or the shelter-belts 

 could be planted every alternate mile. 

 The east-and-west roads in most of 

 •Saskatchewan are two miles apart. 

 Could not the winter roads be the 

 same? 



Fence Posts and Fuel. 



There are other benefits from such 

 a scheme besides checking hot winds 

 and preventing soil-drifting. Tumb- 

 ling weeds, particularly Russian 

 thistle, would be checked. Within 

 ten years fence-posts and summer 

 fuel could be cut from these planta- 

 tions. This alone would far more than 

 pay the costs of the scheme. We fond- 

 ly imagine our timber resources are 

 inexhaustible ; they are not, and if 

 the present rate of destruction by 

 forest fire and settlement of the 

 wooded country continues, within ten 

 years fencing material and cordwood 

 will reach prohibitive prices. 



Summer and winter shelter for 

 stock would be provided. There 

 would be a great increase in the bird 

 population and a corresponding de- 

 crease in the insect population. 



Late spring and early fall frosts 

 would be lessened. Practical horti- 

 culture could be carried on every- 

 where. 



By J. H., in Montreal Weetdy Star. 



