Shelter-Belts. 133 



539. As our public lands were all surveyed in lines running north 

 and south, and at right angles to this course, these directions form 

 the natural ones for the subdivisions of farms. The act for encour- 

 agement of tree-planting in Nebraska affords certain premiums for 

 trees, if planted in belts running east and west, which implies that 

 they are there thought to afford most protection against winds from 

 the north or south. In summer, we have most to dread from the lat- 

 ter, and in winter from the former. In a region where such belts 

 are on every farm , the one that shelters from the north affords a 

 southern protection to the lands adjacent, and both farms are 

 benefited. 



540. In an east and west belt, the south side being most exposed 

 to the sun, should be planted by kinds that suffer least from heat 

 and drouth, and that in a dry region afford the most shade. The 

 north side of such a belt will be the most favorable for a double belt 

 of evergreens, which will thrive in such a place, if they can be 

 made to grow anywhere, and which by their close evergreen foliage 

 will give the belt more decided effect as a shelter against the hot and 

 dry winds of summer, and the sweeping storms from the north in 

 winter. 



541. There are some careful observers who express decided pref- 

 erence for a shelter-belt running north and south. In this direction, 

 both sides are exposed ah equal number of hours to the sun, but. the 

 west side receives more heat, as being in the sunshine in the hottest 

 part of the day. In such a belt, a line of evergreens would do best 

 in the middle, or a little nearer the east side, if not overshaded by 

 pther trees. 



542. It is our decided opinion that belts would prove of greatest 

 benefit to agriculture, if planted in both directions, and if this cus- 

 tom were generally adopted in a prairie country, farms would pro- 

 tect one another against injurious winds from any direction, and if 

 in sufiicient proportion, the humidity of the climate would be per- 

 ceptibly increased, and the tendency to drouth lessened. 



543. The planting of a shelter-belt does not materially differ from 

 that elsewhere described for groves. The soil should be cultivated 

 a year or two before, to thoroughly decompose the sod, and the 

 seeds, cuttings, or young plants should be set in quincunx rows, 

 and be kept clear of grass and weeds till they shade the ground. 

 They must be protected from stock of all kinds until beyond their 



