Ii6 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING. 



stiff and far less pleasing appearance than the 

 older portions, with their winding roads and 

 fields of varying and irregular forms. When 

 you have seen the shape of one farm you have 

 seen the shape of all. And there is danger 

 that, as the tree-planter undertakes his work, 

 especially in those parts of the country most 

 destitute of trees, he will increase this checker- 

 board, this artificial appearance, by planting his 

 trees in straight lines along the boundary of 

 his farm on one or more sides. This he will 

 be apt to do for the purpose of getting a shel- 

 ter-belt, as it is called, to screen himself, his 

 crops, and his stock from hurtful winds, while 

 he hopes also to derive from it in due time a 

 sufficiency of lumber and fuel. It is also the 

 easiest, because the simplest way of planting. 

 His lines are all set for him. But if he follows 

 this course he will find, when his belt of trees 

 have grown, that he has shut himself in, im- 

 prisoned himself, so to speak, within a stiff, 

 square wall fifty feet or more in height. 



Let him avoid this, which will be a lasting 

 source of regret when the trees have become 

 established. And he may avoid it by a little 



