1 8 Forests and Trees 



prairie region where protection is so necessary, and where 

 it can be obtained only by the growth of artificial planta- 

 tions. It has been shown by actual measurement on the 

 Experimental Farm at Indian Head, that a row of trees 

 will protect a standing crop against the most violent storm 

 for a distance of fifty feet per foot in height of the trees. 

 That would mean that a growth of trees fifty feet high 

 would afford protection for 2500 feet, or approximately 

 half a mile. Thus a row of trees of that height would to 

 a greater or less extent protect a quarter section of land. 

 When the damage done by violent wind storms has been 

 more accurately measured and estimated, the value which 

 we might secure from forest protection will be the better 

 understood and appreciated. The need of protection for 

 buildings in the winter is very obvious and the value of trees 

 for that purpose need not here be dwelt upon. 



The effect of forests upon climate is somewhat doubtful. 

 There is no doubt a relation between the amount of rain- 

 fall and the nature and extent of forests, but it is not al- 

 ways clear which is cause and which is effect. It seems 

 reasonable to suppose that while the rainfall may have 

 originally helped to cause the forest, the forest may, by 

 helping to condense the moisture of the atmosphere, in- 

 crease the rainfall. 



The protection of game, while a less important item, is 

 still of considerable value, both economic and scientific. 

 The bison of the plain has disappeared, as has almost every 

 other large animal that lives in the open. The moose, elk 

 and caribou, protected by the forests, still remain. 



