48 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



Protection to Buildings may be furnished by a few rows or 

 a grove of trees. It is generally best to locate the buildings in 

 a grove, or grow one up around them, so that protection may be 

 afforded from every quarter to the best advantage. The garden 

 should also be included in the grove or shelterbelt about the 

 buildings. 



Distance of the Trees from the Buildings and Roadways. 



Of whatever the protection consists, it should not be close to the 

 buildings or to any paths which are used in winter, for the snow 

 drifts which always form to the leeward of such protection may 

 become a great nuisance under such circumstances during win- 

 ters of great snowfall. The windbreak had better be placed 

 about one hundred feet back from the buildings, and if shade is 

 wanted it can be obtained from scattered trees near the buildings, 

 which will not drift the snow. The same rule applies to the 

 planting of trees on the north side of a roadway. The drifts of 

 snow which would be formed to the leeward of a windbreak so 

 planted would take longer to thaw in the spring, and would keep 

 the road muddy and in poor condition after those that were not 

 protected had become dry and firm. A row of trees is very ap- 

 propriate by the side of a street or roadway and affords a pleas- 

 ant shade, and if not planted too closely together will not drift 

 the snow sufficiently to be an objection. 



Protection to Crops by Windbreaks. The objection to 

 windbreaks close to driveways may also be made against their 

 use in fields, for they often keep the land for a short distance to 

 leeward wet and in unfit condition to work after the rest of the 

 field has become dry. This is an objection where spring grains 

 are grown, but to winter grains it is an advantage. On the 

 other hand, the protection of a windbreak may give a much need- 

 ed or beneficial covering of snow to crops on the leeward side. 

 The protection from dust storms and drying winds has already 

 been mentioned. The important question is how to get the ad- 

 vantages without the disadvantages. In many sections the dis- 

 advantage of having the snow linger on the field near the wind- 

 break may be overcome by leaving a strip of land near it in 

 permanent meadow, or use it for a rotation that does not take 

 in crops that require very early planting. But even with spring- 

 planted grains it is more than probable that windbreaks properly 



