18 



casB the- raovi'ng currmt nMst rise above the tree tops, anJ leave ttie surfatft' 

 almost undisturbed. Very much of this effect will be produced t^ belts of 

 trees, especially if they be closely planted. 



Any obstruction to a current of the wind will affect that cnrrent as it passes' 

 over to a distance farther than is generally supposed. Thus, Blequerel states:- 

 "In the valley of the Ehiue, a simple hedge, two metres in height, is a suffi- 

 cient protection for a distance of twenty-two metres," or a wiiad-breafc— 

 thiols; belt of trees, will protect a width of space eleven times Its height. 

 Experiments on the seaooast, at Nahant, where th« winda strilie' with full 

 force upon the sandy beach, have proved thait a barrier formed with pickets, 

 or narrow boards, set alternately, so that the currents of air can pass among 

 and through them, and not be compelled to rise in a solid sheet over them, 

 is a more effective wind barrier than the solid body of ai house' or wall, and 

 much less likely to be blown down. Apply this principle to a thick-set tree 

 -belt, of deciduous and evergreen trees, sixty feet high, and the protection 

 reaches six hundred and sixty feet. Such a belt placed around a lot 40 rods 

 square, containing ten acres of land, will completely protect it from the ef- 

 iects of all winds that may blow. 



The effect of a very slight obstruotiom to the operation of the wind, will 

 have been noticed by every observing man, who has planted his winter wheat 

 with a drill. Mr. Lyon, the secretary of the state board of Agriculture of 

 Michigan, in 1865, says : " It is presumed that during the seasons from 1861 

 to 1865, few of us failed to observe that even the protection of a lidge or' 

 dead-furrow, rynning north and south through a field of wlreat, was sufficient 

 to preserve a streak of green where all else was brown amd bare ; and that 

 the shelter of a fenc§ was the means of preserving a still greater breadth ; 

 while the interposition of a hedge of oak grubs, or a body of timber invari- 

 ably secured the preservation of a fair crop over a still greater breadth of 

 ground, often amounting to an entire field." 



In many parts of that state as well as in Wisconsin, the farmers having 

 learned their ideas of farming from farther eaist, and where another and dif- 

 ferent climate prevails, harrow in their wheat, and then roll the ground 

 smooth Such sowings are here almost usually entire failures, while where the' 

 ground is left rough either with the cultivator or drill, a crop may be expect- 

 ed. The reason why the crop is secured, when protected from the bitter,, 

 biting W. S. W. wind, is not hard to find; for besides- the shelter from the 

 wind, it encourages the snow and moisture to lie on the' ground and give the 

 grain the warm covering of snow which God has prepared to protect the 

 earth and vegetation through the winter. When vegetation is covered with 

 snow it is almost always sure to live through the winter's cold. But we have- 

 no surety of this covering, or of its equal distribution over the surface of 

 ground laid open to the full sweep of fierce winds. 



OuUmg away the forests causes the snow to accumidaie in drifts, leaving por- 

 iiows of the land bare and unprotected whSe other portions are buried in aceunadated 



