46 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



too closely together will not drift the snow sufficiently to 

 be an objection. 



Protection to Crops by Windbreaks. The objection to 

 windbreaks close to driveways may also be made against 

 their use in fields, for they often keep the land for a short 

 distance to leeward wet and in unfit condition to work after 

 the rest of the field has become dry. This is an objection 

 where spring grains are grown, but to winter grains it is an 

 advantage. On the other hand, the protection of a wind- 

 break may give a much-needed or beneficial covering of 

 snow to crops on the leeward side. The protection from 

 dust-storms and drying winds has already been men- 

 tioned. The important question is how to get the advan- 

 tages without the disadvantages. In many sections the 

 disadvantage of having the snow linger on the field near 

 the windbreak may be overcome by leaving a strip of land 

 near it in permanent meadow, or use it for a rotation that 

 does not take in crops that require very early planting. 

 But even with spring-planted grains, it is more than prob- 

 able that windbreaks properly planted are an advantage 

 when their benefits are considered for a series of years. It 

 ofttimes happens that low windbreaks are more beneficial 

 than high windbreaks in holding the snow on the land, for 

 the high windbreaks often form a great drift that may 

 remain late in the spring, while the low windbreak nowhere 

 forms a large drift, but spreads the snow for long distances. 

 Professor Budd says that in parts of the great continental 

 plain of Russia, where the climatic changes are much the 

 same as in this section, the use of low windbreaks in wheat- 

 fields is very common. 



Height of Windbreak. From the preceding paragraph 

 it will be seen that low windbreaks may often serve a better 

 purpose than high ones in protecting fields. Exactly what 

 is meant by a low windbreak may be an open question, but 

 for the purposes of this discussion a low windbreak may be 



