The Tree Plantation on the Prairie Farm 103 



posts and timber for any rough temporary work about the 

 farm. While it is not desirable that good farm land be 

 turned to forest to any considerable extent, yet to so use 

 enough for a wind-break would not be out of place. As a 

 rule the rougher parts of the farm offer the best building 

 sites. Water is more easily found on a gravelly knoll 

 than on the unbroken level. An irregular surface affords 

 better drainage and generally greater natural beauty than 

 level land. So if the more broken parts of the farm were 

 chosen for building sites and clothed with good groves of 

 trees, it would meet all the requirements of beauty, service 

 and economy. 



The only preparation of the ground which will be sure 

 to give satisfaction is summer fallow or its equivalent. 

 The planting being on a larger scale than when it is for 

 purely decorative purposes, it is not possible that the same 

 care can be given. It is, therefore, essential that the best 

 possible preparation be made. Trees do not need a soil 

 particularly rich in nitrogen, so that manuring the land 

 before planting is not essential and may be injurious. The 

 prairie soil is, as a rule, sufficiently rich in all the essential 

 elements of plant food, but every means should be taken 

 to increase the moisture supply. In the summer fallow 

 the greater part of the moisture of the previous year has 

 been retained and this makes the best preparation. If it 

 is necessary to plant on newly broken prairie it should have 

 been prepared the year previous by breaking and back- 

 setting, with the addition of a deep ploughing in the fall. 

 The object is to make as deep a bed as possible to absorb 



