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8162. 



THE ILLDSTOIS FAKMEE. 



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effects of culture upon a soil like that of the 

 prairie, nor should our farmers and garden- 

 ers be surprised that its virgin surface no 

 longer produce the immense crops of cerals 

 or of other products, as before cul- 

 ture wrought this wonderful change. They 

 should remember that this change has given 

 us a dryer soil to cultivate, better roads to 

 travel over, and a more aried and invigora- 

 ting atmosphere, made the marshes habit- 

 able, and cleared the streams of their accum- 

 ulations of rotten wood and slime. 



On the other hand, we have sudden vari- 

 ations of heat and cold, of flood or drouth, 

 with rivers less valuable for navigation, and 

 their deltas nearly ruined for agricultural 

 purposes. 



These facts are patient to the west, yet 

 few have examined the causes that have 

 wrought this material change of climate 

 and baflBed the experience of the early set- 

 tlers. That this change of climate has 

 brought us a new condition of things, there 

 can be no doubt ; implying new implements 

 and new modes of culture. Whether the 

 change is advantageous or not to the hus- 

 bandman, is no part of our present object 

 to discuss ; that it has its advantages and 

 disadvantages, is easy to be seen, the most 

 prominent of which on the one hand is a 

 diminished product, and on the other, better 

 health, but the facts are here, and to them 

 we must attend. To this end, we return to 



THE EFFECTS OF TREES ON CLIMATE. 



The sun robs the soil of its moisture and 

 the wind of its heat, two elements that have 

 an important bearing on the resulting crops- 

 Now it is well known that forest belts retard 

 the rapid sweeps of the wind and hold it in 

 check. If you close the doors and windows 

 on the lee side of a house, and open those 

 to the windward, the effect is but slight; 

 now open the opposite door and you have a 

 strong current that will at once reduce the 

 temperature of the room; close the door 

 and the equilibrium is restored. Just such 

 is the effects on a lafge scale, when broad 



belts of woodland interpose and cross th® 

 winds path, for it should be borne in mind 

 that wind, like water, has weight, and is 

 checked in its progress by rough and uneven 

 surfaces ; it cannot pass over high moun- 

 tains, apd its onward sweep is comparatively 

 slow over extended forests, while on the 

 smooth surface of the prairie we see the 

 reverse. A fact so plain should have long 

 since attracted the attention of the farmers, 

 and suggested a remedy. During the spring 

 months we have two currents of air that 

 generally combine, and as one or the other 

 becomes the controling one, we have a sud- 

 den shifting from south-west to north-west. 

 The cold current coming from the north, 

 following the base of the Rocky Mountains 

 until it meets the trade winds of the south, 

 both are then drifted in an easterly direc- 

 tion, but in a few days after the first of 

 April, the steady flow of the trades are too 

 much for their northern antagonist, and we 

 have an almost uninterrupted flow of south- 

 west wind, yet always containing, mixed 

 with it the cold current that has traveled 

 along the base of the mountains, charged 

 with the dampness of melting snows, and 

 the keen frosty air of the polar belts. 

 Thus the south west wind, until the summer 

 has traveled far north, is always more or less 

 cold and damp, and when it has an uninter- 

 rupted sweep over the newly sown grain, 

 robbing the soil of its heat, cannot other- 

 wise than have a tendency to check its 

 growth. To check this effect, we must 

 plant our wall of timber across its pathway, 

 which will be on the west side of our fields, 

 with wings to the east from either point; 

 this will arrest the progress of the wind 

 from all westerly points ; but we should be 

 the most particular to guard the south-west 

 point, as from that we have the most 

 constant currents. A single row oi trees 

 have a wonderful effect in checking the 

 force of the wind, and a belt two rods in 

 width will entirely break its force and com- 

 pel it to pass over. In all sheltered nooks 

 we observe with what vigor the grass and 



