EXPERIMENT WITH WIND-BREAK 



151 



Orchards I. Ill and IV were upon open prairie 

 with no more obstruction to windward than the 

 barbed wire fencing which surrounded each. Orch- 

 ard II was enclosed on the north and west by a 

 dense growth of pines, and hardwood trees, many 

 of which were thirty feet high, with an impenetra- 

 ble undergrowth of bushes and vines — an ideal 

 wind-break, for the fig trees extended only ten rows 

 wide in a strip along this young forest. All four 

 orchards were in good tilth. But did the wind- 

 break justify expectations? Not here. Did the 

 sheltered trees get immunity ? Not at all ; to the 

 contrary those which nestled so safely in the lee 

 of the forest were frozen back from four to eight 

 feet, some trees having to be cut to the ground. The 

 one four miles south called Orchard III was blight- 

 ed to a less extent, while Orchards I and IV entire- 

 ly escaped injury. 



So the wind-break, evidently, did not mitigate the 

 damage; but this fact does not argue against them 

 generally, for other stronger influences caused the 

 sheltered trees to be the greatest storm sufferers, 

 their susceptibility accounting for results rather 

 than the exposure. Orchard II had light soil; the 

 sandy, dry ground absorbed considerable heat dur- 

 ing the preceding week, and it had radiated and re- 

 flected warmth about the tree tops. This mild at- 

 mosphere had started the sap, the leaf buds were all 

 swollen, some were opening, thus being wholly out 



