The Conquest of the Desert 



trees will soon find out that not only does he 

 save money, but he can also sell his timber at 

 a profitable figure. For example, some trees 

 make excellent fence posts, scaffolding and 

 flooring, while others are suitable for furniture, 

 mining props, butter and cigar boxes. 



The value of shelter belts is undoubted, but 

 farmers often find it difficult to get crops to 

 grow close to the base of trees. In a compre- 

 hensive bulletin on " Windbreaks " issued by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Mr Bates, Forest Assistant, gives the results 

 of several years of investigation. He points 

 out that crops which are grown principally for 

 their vegetative parts rather than for their seeds 

 can stand the shade better. In other words, 

 whilst a crop of corn (maize) which is grown for 

 its grain might fail entirely on a strip of sunless 

 ground near to the trees ; yet the same land 

 might be profitably planted with fodder, corn, 

 clover, or lucerne. As is well known, fruit 

 trees on the edge of an orchard are usually small 

 in size. Thus in California it is customary to 

 dig trenches to cut off the roots of eucalypti 

 and other tall trees, planted around orchards, 

 in order to prevent the forest trees taking 



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