NEED OF SCREENS OF TIMBER IN FRUIT-CULTURE. 275 



In Vermont, the south and southwest sides of an orchard have been 

 mentioned as more particularly needing a shelter against winds; and 

 screens at distances of 20 or 30 rods were thought to be useful, with 

 occasionally an evergreen in place of a fruit-tree in exposed places. The 

 arbor vitje was mentioned as useful, but preference was given to the 

 Norway spruce. ^ 



A wind-screen, if close, affords some protection on the windward side, 

 by the calm which it produces. It is noticed that sheep and cattle will 

 sometimes find shelter on the front side of a screen. 



A writer in the Ilew England Farmer (vi, 350), in noticing shelter, 

 and its efiect upon farm stock, says : 



It is indeed astonishing how much better cattle thrive in fields, even when moder- 

 ately sheltered, than they do in an open, exposed country. In the breeding of cattle, 

 a sheltored farm, or a sheltered corner of a farm, is a thing much prized ; aud in in- 

 stances where fields are taken by the season for the purpose of fattening cattle, those 

 most sheltered never fail to bring the highest rents. 



In the grazing regions of Texas, cattle seek the timber on the ap- 

 proach of a storm, and stay there while it continues, and on the western 

 plains they will retreat before a storm a long distance to gain shelter. 



The freshness of pastures interspersed with trees, is well known in the 

 dairy regions of the north, and is doubtless partly due to the shelter that 

 trees afford to the winter snows. 



The prevalence of dry southwesterly winds in the Western States has 

 suggested a practice, quite advantageous in fruit-trees, of leaning the 

 trees toward that point, so as better to resist the wind, as well as to 

 shade the trunk from the sun. It is also found a good practice to allow 

 the tops of fruit trees to grow low, so as better to resist the drying ef- 

 fects of the wind and sun. The same reasons would lead to a like prac- 

 tice wi h the outside rows of forest trees, especially on the sides of a 

 grove most exposed. It would be unnecessary in the interior, as if prop- 

 erly set, the trees would shade one another sufficiently for all purposes, 

 after they have got well started. 



Dr. John A. Warder, in a paper read before the Northern Illinois 

 Horticultural Society,'' in speaking of shelter for fruit trees, says : 



Evergreens may be planted here and there through the orchard with very great 

 advantage. For this purpose the most robust varieties should be selected, such as 

 the Scotch and Austrian pines, and the beautiful Norway spruce, from Europe, or our 

 own native, the noble silver pine, the red or Norway pine, the Banksiana, the white 

 spruce, the common red cedar, and arbor vitse. All are robust and hardy, rapid grow- 

 ers, aud valuable for shelter and for timber, but sct-eens are what we need. A single 

 row of such trees outside will afford a great deal of protection from the wiuds after a 

 few years, indeed from the first; but a closely-planted belt of 2 or 3 rows will be much 

 more effective. These should not be set too near the orchard trees ; two rods may be 

 allowed, or, if closer, the outer rows of the apples can be cut out in a few years to make 

 room for these nurses when they may require more space. The evergreens may be set 

 in double or triple rows, and alternately, so that every three shall be opposite the space 

 in the next row. In planting a triple row it is well to set the Pinus strobus in the 

 middle, with Norway or white spruce, or red cedar on either side, planting these from 

 8 to 10 feet apart. » * * The hedges should not be set too closely to those shelter- 

 belts, especially where they are allowed to grow high for screens. At one rod, they 

 will soon interfere with the trees, so that a space of two rods may be better— outside 

 the belt. In large plantations it may be well to set rows of evergreens across the 

 orchard, dividing it into two or more sections. For this purpose, a single row of Nor- 

 way spruces will produce a very fine effect, or the American arbor vitae can be used as 

 an evergreen hedge, and kept to a height of 10 or 12 feet, if desirable. Both these plants 

 are eminently well adapted for close shelters, and will bear the shears, which help to 

 make them a perfect screen and wind-break. Deciduous trees are also very desirable 

 as shelter belts, and for the sake of immediate eftect the quick-growing kinds are pre- 

 ferred, such as the soft maple, or even the white willow, but more especially the Eu- 



1 C. G. Pringle, in Vermont Affrkullural Report, 1872, p. 69. 

 » Transactions, fourth meeting, p. G8. 



