1346 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, 1917 



Covering the Sand Lands With Trees 



The splendid work done by the 

 District Agricultural Representatives 

 of the Ontario Department of Agri- 

 culture is now being utilized to a 

 degree in the cause of forestry. With 

 the sanction of the Minister, some 

 refoiestation experiments have been 

 carrred out by the District men, as 

 is explained in the following state- 

 ment referring to one of the districts: 

 - "In a number of places throughout 

 the county there are sand hills upon 

 which apparently nothing could be 

 made to grow, and which give an 

 endless amount of trouble, especially 

 along roadsides, where every windy 

 day fills the road full of sand. One 

 particularly bad hill Ues on the road 

 about midway between Kemptville 

 and Spencerville, on the Selleck prop- 

 erty. This sand hill has drifted 

 across the road allowance, and sev- 

 eral strips of land have been pur- 

 chased from the owner of the adjoin- 

 ing field, in order to get around the 

 sand. Every elTort to stop sand 

 blowing has failed, three high board 

 fences have been buried, and it is 

 an every day occurrence to see autos 

 stuck in the middle of the road. 



"With the idea in view of attempt- 

 ing to stop the sand blowing we de- 

 cided to conduct a reforestration 



:-experiment, to see if it would be 

 possible to grow trees on this sand. 

 Five thousand four hundred trees 

 were secured in the spring from the 

 Forestry Branch of the Department 

 of Agriculture, and set out carefully 

 in rows four feet apart, with the trees 

 four feet apart in the row. We fur- 

 ther experimented by hauling cedar 

 brush and covering over half the 

 area with it. I am pleased to state 

 that at present nearly all the trees 

 over which we put brush are living 

 and doing well. These will, no doubt, 

 in the course of a year or two stop 

 the sand from blowing. The trees 

 which we did not cover did not do so 

 well, and many of them were either 

 covered with the blowing sand, or 

 blown out by the roots. Next spring 

 we purpose replacing all dead trees, 

 and covering the entire area, if pos- 

 sible, with cedar brush, to give the 

 trees as good a chance as possible. 



"Very little encouragement was 

 given by adjoining farmers at the 

 time the trees were planted, and a 

 good deal of scepticism prevailed as 

 to the possibility of the trees growing. 

 However, we know that seeing is 

 believing, and trust to have this 

 troublesome sand hill converted into 

 a young pine grove in the course of a 

 few vears." 



The Tree's Value to the Prairie Farmer 



By Allan Campbell 



Trees on the farm perform a similar 

 office to that of the paint on the 

 buildings, as they improve appear- 

 ance and are a good protection against 

 various conditions of weather. The 

 treeless farmstead is open to every 

 caprice of the weather and in addition 

 to this must in time prove depressing 

 to the spirits of those who live within 

 its bare environments. Particularly 

 in this western country do we need 

 farms that are homes in the true 



sense, and in this direction tree plant- 

 ing can accomplish much, both from 

 a sentimental and economical stand- 

 point. The farmer who has to face 

 the ordeal of an annual long haul to 

 obtain his winter's fuel supply would 

 feel a greater peace of mind could he 

 contemplate on a certain part of his 

 farm, hundreds of sturdy saplings 

 growing his future fuel supply. 



For ornamentation and shelter, 

 trees form an essential on the modern 



