52 THE TREES OF AMERICA. 



spring winds ; our hill-tops were covered with hattalions of trees, which de- 

 fended the slopes and the vales. The snow was not blown off from the tender 

 grain crops in winter, nor were the fields laid bare to the blighting winds of 

 spring. One of the greatest drawbacks to farm life on the western prairies is 

 the absence of forest trees. Every mail brings accounts of sufferings and death 

 occasioned by the want of sheltering forests." The prairies of the West, like 

 the boundless wastes of ocean, being destitute of opposing objects to break the 

 force of the wind, are subject, like it, to fearful gales and tornadoes which 

 spread ruin and death in their paths. 



Trees and bushes prevent the drifting of snow and sand ; and certain species 

 conduce to the covering of barren, sandy plains with grass. For this purpose 

 the locust — (JPseudacada) one of the " nurse trees of the world," as Evelyn 

 calls them — seems peculiarly adapted. By the planting of this tree the author 

 has seen rolling sand hills covered with a soft green turf. The method of plant- 

 ing is to begin upon the most exposed side of the sand barren, and cover what 

 is to be planted at the time with brush, or any kind of coarse litter. This 

 prevents the sand from blowing at the commencement ; and, as it decays, forms 

 a coating of manure for the young trees. It may be necessary, in some situ- 

 ations, to follow Mr. Tudor's plan in buUding slight open fences of laths on the 

 windward side. If the locust seed is to be planted, scalding water should be 

 poured upon it, and it should be allowed to stand in a warm place for three or 

 four days. It should then be sown in the interstices of the brush, and cov- 

 ered with sand or soil to the depth of one or two inches. Of thousands which 

 we have planted in this way, not one has failed. Almost every one is familiar 

 with instances where many acres of fertile land have been lost to cultivation 

 by drifting sands. Mr. Bryant mentions a large farm, which he visited, which 

 had thus been ruined. The very fences had sunk, as it were, ia a sea of sand. 

 This farm had been cultivated till within a few years of Mr. Bryant's visit, when 

 a thia barrier of trees, which had stood between it and the sea shore, had been 

 removed. This opened the sluice-way through which the wind and the sand 

 had rushed upon their prey, burying the fertile acres as completely as did the 

 waters of the Eed Sea the hosts of the Egyptian king. Many of the buried 



