October i, 1881.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
391 
As regards the effect of a belt of trees in protecting 
the ground behind it from the wind, the third chapter 
of the work just quoted, Ireating of the laying out of 
compartments or forest for felling, contains much 
that is instructive. The following passage (pp. 205, 
200) in particularly applicable :—" It is an addition 
to the advantages of the rule we have just b' en dis- 
cussing to leave standing on the west and sontb 
margins of the forest, when the fellings reach those 
parts, a bolt of trees forming deep forest of a width 
more or less considerable (100 to 50 fee!) according 
as the place is exposed or sheltered, as the trees are 
deep-rooted or the reverse, &c. It is well known that 
near 1 lie margins of a wood the trees are generally 
more branchy and stunted, and more firmly rooted 
than in the interior, and that having grown up under 
the constant action of the wind they naturally with- 
stand its violence better." 
Monsieur Bagneris, in his Manuel de Sylviculture, 
concludes his remarks on the admitted climat e effect 
of forests in these words :—" Lastly, the forests break 
the force of t'ae winds and check their violence.'' 
Again (p. 12 1 8) on the subject of laying out compart- 
ments for felling: "When the side directly exposed 
to the wind is reached, it is always necessary to 
maintain intact on that side a zone to be kept up 
as deep forest and worked by selection fellings. The 
width to be given to this belt must vary according 
to the resistance it has to offer ; but, to be effectual, 
it is seMom that it can be made less than a hundred 
yards wide." 
On expo-ed ridges or plateaux, as well as in narrow 
valleys swept by the wind, it is often necessary to 
increase the width. 
In the; " ln<lr.jicinlane<' Beige' of the 20th June 1S05 
the use of forests as screens to protect cultivation 
from the wind is discussed. Their influence— and 
Ara.'o is cited in support of this view — is one of 
equalization; and the writer proceeds to say: "It 
is for man, and particularly for the agriculturist, to 
know how to constitute such screens as will be free 
from any drawbacks that might be presented by dense 
forests of vast extent. Now for this purpose extensive 
forests are not needed ; screens of trees, quick-set hedges, 
plantations round the homestead and along the roads 
will afford ample shelter, without occasioning, as 
forests might, late spring frosts and thereby often 
endangering the crops." 
The circumstances of different localities must 
necessarily vary so greatly that no rule can be laid 
(low 11 a« to the width of the belt of trees ; but as 
regards shruds and quick-set hedges affording ample 
ihell r. that, I think, depends 011 the intensity of 
tho danger to be counteracted and the extent of 
ground to bo protected. The resistance of the belt 
of trees will bo in proportion to its density and 
the firmness with which the trees in it tire rooted, 
the extent of ground it will protect will be greater 
or leas us tho trees forming it are tall or short. 
1 believe that the distancu behind tho belt to which 
the shelter extends is about twenty times the height 
of the serei n. No doubt there is some mathematical 
formula, whereby, with certain data, it might be 
compute I ; but the surest and simplest plan will bo 
feO rt y "ii actual observation in each case, due may 
expect tint 11 low wind sweeping over a level plain, 
id a wind coming in a slanting direction, as from 
tho aide of a mountain, would not bo counteracted 
tho same rxtoiit by a belt of tro'-s of a given 
height.— so that I should expect to find the extent 
of ground sheltered to depend very much on tho angle 
of iuoidence of tho wind. 
As to the beat kinds of trees to bo planted, in the 
iMence of existing timber, they must above all bo 
roitable to the soil and climate— of hardy growth, 
capable of growing up in tho exposed situation where 
they are to be placed. Such as are gregarious and 
will form a dense thicket are to be preferred, and 
valuable kinds, if suitable in other respects, should 
be used in preference to those which are useless as 
timber. If the winrls to be counteracted are constant, 
evergreen trees, which keep th- ir foliage throughout 
the year, are to be preferred to deciduous kinds. 
According as the winds are hot or cold the kinds should 
be chosen which are best suited in this respect ; thus, 
in Europe, the Scotch fir [Pinna sytventrix, Linn.) is 
found to resist cold bettor than the maritime pine 
[Pinua maritima, Linn.), which, in the winter of 1879, 
succumbed to the cold extensively in the north and 
centre of France. 
Sissu (Dalbergia Sissoo, Roxb.), which is recom- 
mended by both "E" and " Aliste" for very good 
reasons as suitable for planting in amongst the tea 
bushes, would be very useful also for the belt of 
jungle as it is gregarious and hardy, growing in the 
stoniest soil of riverbeds exposed to the winds which 
sweep down the valleys. It is also a quick grower, 
and the wood is valuable for cart wheels, furriture, 
gun carriages, &c. ; but it does not, as a rule, form 
compact or dense forest. It would be useful on the 
outside of the belt by its hardy temperament and 
linn root bold. 
Bamboos have the advantage of growing to their 
full height very quickly, and when propagated by 
off-sets they form good-sized clumps in three or four 
years. "Aliste" remarks that the bamboos in his 
part of the country are all flowering, and asks if there 
is no remedy to prevent their dying alter running to 
seed. I believe there is not. I was informed a few 
years ago that the bamboos in a part of Orissa had 
all died in this way. In Drury's " Useful Plants," 
2nd edition, p. fi4, we find that "at the age of 15 
years tho bamboo is said to bear fruit — a whitish 
seed-like rice, and then to die." I have noticed that 
the forest bamboo of the Terai, (Bendrocalamu* 
Hamiltonii) is flowering pretty generally this year ; 
but the phenomenon does not universally affect all 
the bamboos. I have also noticed clumps of this 
bamboo m a languishing condition which had lately 
flowered. 
The bamboo is very useful to tea planters, and is 
frequently planted on estates in the Darjeeling Terai. 
It is also very firmly rooted, and the clumps have a 
good broad base. This u important at lea-t for the 
outside of the belt as they may be used in places of 
deep-rooted trees should the soil not be deep euouuh 
for their growth. But whatever tree or sluub is used 
on tho outside, all the low branches must be kept. 
Stunted trees, with branches feathering down to the 
ground, will be most useful. At page b"8 of the 
Indian Forester for July 1880 this sentence occurs : — 
" In exposed situations both the pruning and thinning 
of trees should be much lighter round those margins 
of plantations which face the prevailing high winds 
of the district! By too close packing it often hap- 
pens that only the face of the very outermost trees 
are dotted with foliage, so that any injury to one of 
these admits tho destructive winds. This may be 
guarded against by a judicious early thinning of such 
margins, so as to secure a belt of low-branched 
trees — (A. J. Burrows, in The Garden)." 
The India-rubber [FicM ela&tka, Knxb.) would be 
a good evergreen tree for the outsioo edge where 
permanent foliage is desired. It will grow in most 
soils provided they are well drained and permeable; 
and it also requires plenty of sunlight. Its roots take 
firm hold of the soil. Cutrela Tfona might nlso be 
grown as suggested. It is a -hade-loving tree, and 
its being planted amongst other kinds would draw it 
up with a line clean stem, so that tho trees would 
bo likely to give good timber. Tho toon is capable 
of attaining a height of seventy feet or thereabouts, 
