EXPERIMENT WITH WIND-BREAK 



149 



by low artemesia hedges. In New England stones 

 are piled in walls along boundary lines, forming the 

 farm fences as well as efficient wind-breaks. In 

 parts of the Central States the Siberian poplar is in 

 favor for that purpose. Near the Gulf of Mexico 

 trifoliata orange hedges about fifteen feet high give 

 ideal protection. 



Our academical abstractions about the scientific 

 value of wind-breaks sometimes receive rude shocks 

 from the irresistible logic of facts. An instance 

 of this kind occurred during the freezes of 1909. 

 At a certain place the following observations were 

 taken : Before daylight on January 11 of that year 

 the temperature was about 73 deg. F. : at 3 p. m. the 

 same day it was 34 deer. ; at 7 p. m. 30 deg. : at 2 a. 

 m. on the morning of January 12. it stood 22 dee:., 

 from which time, rising very slowly, it passed the 

 freezing point about 8 o'clock a. m. January 13. 

 Now what effect did this wave have upon protected 

 and unprotected trees ? The treatment they should 

 receive to shelter them from cold belongs to another 

 chapter : so. also, their subsequent care when in- 

 jured. But the question is : Did wind protection 

 lessen danger? As usual this freeze was accom- 

 panied by a stiff breeze from the northwest. Within 

 a radius of a few miles there were four orchards of 

 some size at each of which the foregoing tempera- 

 tures were recorded, three of them being exposed 

 while the fourth was well sheltered by a wind- 

 break. The following sketch will indicate the rela- 

 tive location of each orchard : 



