CHAPTER III. 



TREE PLANTING. 



The subject of tree planting in this section naturally 

 divides itself under the two heads of prairie planting and forest 

 planting. The former relates to the limited planting of trees 

 on our prairies for ornament, protection and use and the 

 latter to the care and management of timber lands and the 

 planting of trees for profit from their growth. Our people 

 are very generally impressed with the importance of prairie 

 planting for protection and ornament, but are too prone to 

 regard the care and management of timber lands for the pro- 

 duction of timber crops as a matter of little concern and very 

 impracticable. 



PRAIRIE PLANTING. 



Whatever the ulterior object of prairie planting the sub- 

 ject of protection to the buildings, their occupants and the 

 cattle in the field should always be first considered. Our 

 crops in this section are most liable to injury from the south- 

 west wind of summer which dries them out and the northwest 

 wind of winter which blows the snow from the land causing it 

 to lose the snow water. It also causes a loss of evaporation 

 which goes on even in winter from the bare ground and from 

 exposed crops causing them to winter-kill. The same winds 

 are also the most uncomfortable to the occupants of farm 

 buildings and are most likely to cause dust storms which 

 should be especially guarded against. 



Windbreak is a general name given to anything that gives 

 protection from wind. On the prairies it is often applied to a- 

 single row of trees planted for protection. 



Shelterbelt is a term more often used to signify several or 

 a large number of rows of trees, but the term is often used in- 

 terchangeably with windbreak. 



Grove is a term that refers to comparatively large bodies 



