GROWING TREES AND FRUITS IN DRY AREAS 367 



In many of the dry states there are areas where trees 

 and fruits cannot be grown with much or even with any 

 success in the absence of irrigating waters. The areas 

 are many, however, where they cannot be thus grown, 

 in which the-additional water called for is so little that 

 for the needs of the home it may be supplied by a wind- 

 mill and the accompanying tank. 



What should be sought in trees. Trees should be 

 grown primarily: (1) to furnish protection for the home; 

 (2) to furnish protection for the fruits grown, and (3) to 

 furnish posts for fencing. Whether the growing of trees 

 for timber will ever become at all general cannot be fore- 

 casted with certainty at the present time. Meanwhile it 

 has little or no place in connection with dry land 

 farming. 



That homes are benefited by the protection fuf- 

 nished by windbreaks and groves under nearly all condi- 

 tions, will not be questioned. Even in sheltered nooks 

 and valleys where the annoying winds are not greatly 

 prevalent, the shade furnished by trees around the dwell- 

 ing is very grateful. On the prairie and bench lands the 

 need of trees for shelter is in a sense imperative. Of 

 course, life may be lived in their absence, but when thus 

 lived it is in more senses than one a life of privation. 



In wind-swept areas, as for instance in much of the 

 Great Plains country, windbreaks and groves are a great 

 protection to the trees planted inside of them, or at least 

 on the leeward side. The wind currents will cause fruit 

 trees and shrubs exposed to them to lean too much in one 

 direction. The fruit will also in the case of the larger 

 trees be blown off before it has reached maturity, be- 

 cause of the swaying of the limbs. In many areas, in the 

 absence of such protection, fruit raising cannot be made 

 a success, even when the other conditions are present 

 that would lead to a successful issue. Some small fruits, 



