15 



surface broken by creeks or lakes would, of course, necessitate a 

 modification to fit local conditions. The plan is intended merely to 

 illustrate principles. 



Four farms of 160 acres each are shown, illustrating an arrange- 

 ment suitable to each of the four quarters of a section. The farm- 

 stead, or that portion of a farm which is occupied by the residence, 

 barn, orchards, gardens, lawn, and feedlots, is here shown as placed 

 at the section corner of each farm. While in a large proportion of 

 cases the location of the farmstead will be determined by the particu- 

 lar conditions, as water supply, topography, etc., an arrangement, 

 where practicable, by which the houses stand on the section corners 

 will be worth considering. 



The fields on each quarter section have been laid out to permit the 

 planting of windbreaks to protect the crops from the hot southwest- 

 erly winds of summer and the cold northwesterly winds of winter. 

 The farmsteads are also provided with protection from winds. East 

 winds have not been considered, because of their infrequent occur- 

 rence, but a general adoption of this plan on all the farms of a region 

 would afford protection from all points of the compass. 



The fields, with one exception, are all of the same shape and size, 

 there being on each quarter section six fields, each 22.1 acres in 

 area. This method of dividing the farm into fields will afford an 

 opportunity for the application of a scientific system of crop rota- 

 tion, and the fields, being six in number, will permit the application 

 of a compound rotation embracing the use of a perennial crop like 

 alfalfa in combination with five annual crops, where this is desired. 

 If the use of a perennial is not desirable, the six fields will permit the 

 running of two parallel three-crop rotations. 



TREES AND METHODS RECOMMENDED. 



The plan provides that the forest trees shall be planted in belts 

 varying from 2 to 8 rods in width, except along fence lines, where 

 they are in single rows. The best results, purely from the standpoint 

 of forestry, will be obtained in the widest belts, since trees are social 

 in their habits. Still better tree growth would be secured by planting 

 in compact blocks. But as agriculture is the fundamental industry in 

 the region to which this plan applies, the tree planting is designed 

 only to supplement the production of field crops. Eleven or 12 per 

 cent of each quarter section is to be devoted to forest. This is exclu- 

 sive of the space occupied by the single lines of trees in the fence rows. 



The species that may be recommended for this purpose vary for 

 each particular locality with conditions of climate, rainfall, and soil. 

 Considering the Middle Western States together, however, the fol- 



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