CONTROLLING SNOW BY TREE PLANTING 



BY W. C. PALMER 



FARMERS have for many years controlled snow 

 about their farmsteads by tree planting and the 

 railroads are now trying the same scheme in pro- 

 tecting their right of way. The common board panels 

 that have been so commonly used are expensive, and in 

 the winter with the big snow they often prove more of a 

 detriment than a help. The trees can be planted so as to 

 be effective under the most severe conditions and after 

 they are planted and given a good start the cost of up- 

 keep is slight. 



The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (bet- 

 ter known as the Soo) Railway has gone into the tree 

 planting with a vim. Beginning in 1914, they have 



THE SERVICE OF THE TREES 



Showing how the snow is held by trees, and a convincing argument in 

 favor of planting along railroads for this purpose. 



already planted trees along 250 miles of their right of 

 way and they have 70 miles more ready to plant in the 

 spring of 1918. Their plan is to prepare and plant 100 

 miles of right of way each year. So far the tree planting 

 on the Soo Railway has been in North Dakota, but next 

 year some tree planting will be done to protect the right 

 of way in Wisconsin. 



The tree planting is under the supervision of T. A. 

 Hoverstad, Agricultural Commissioner for the Soo road, 

 but formerly superintendent of Farmers Institutes in 

 North Dakota, where he lectured to the farmers on how 

 to protect their homes from snow and wind by tree 

 planting. In the early nineties Mr. Hoverstad planted 

 two experimental forest plantations in western Minne- 

 sota for the University of Minnesota, the earliest work 



of this kind done in this section. His long experience in 

 forestry work has been a good preparation for the work 

 on the railroad. 



In this work the first problem that came up was getting 

 the trees planted. One man can set about a hundred 

 trees a day by hand, and at that the trees were not always 

 set in the best way. Mr. Hoverstad solved this problem by 

 inventing a tree planter. With this three men can aver- 

 age 8,000 trees a day with a gasoline consumption of 8 to 

 10 gallons for the tractor. This is as many trees as 80 

 men could set in a day by hand. This was not the only 

 advantage as the machine could be set to go at a certain 

 depth and all the trees would be planted this depth. And 

 again with the tree planter, moist soil is packed about 

 the tree roots, while in hand planting if the soil is dry on 

 top this dry soil will run into the hole and cover the 

 roots. 



The tree planter is made up of a subsoil plow with two 

 upright mold boards fastened vertically and placed six 

 inches apart. This serves as the furrow opener. It can 

 be set to go as deep as 12 inches. The furrow opener is 

 followed by two discs that throw the soil in and these 

 are again followed by two press wheels that pack the soil 

 about the tree roots. In this way the furrow is closed as 

 soon as the tree is set into it and there is no way for the 

 soil to dry or for dry soil to cover the tree roots. Seats 



MUCH DEPENDS ON ITS PROPER PROTECTION 



A railway cut. These must be kept from drifting full of snow, and proper 

 tree planting has proven most effective in accomplishing this result. 



are provided for two men, one on each side of the furrow 

 opener, so that they may conveniently drop the trees into 

 the furrow. A larger percentage of the machine-planted 

 trees live than of those planted by hand. 



The next problem was what kind of trees to plant. In 

 this connection one must remember that these trees are 

 to be planted to protect railroad cuts, which means that 

 they will be planted on hills and knolls and that these 

 are often gravelly and usually covered with a thin soil. 

 Willows will grow under these conditions and their 

 nature of growth is such that they check the wind and 



