9 
ticipated the need is of such a highly encouraging nature that inform- 
ation as to the methods and the kind of trees best adapted for such 
planting is eagerly sought for. 
It has been found that belts of from seven to eight rods in width 
are, all things taken together, the best. These belts should be planted 
on the outside with some evergreen, whose roots strike deep into the 
ground and do not spread near the surface, and whose leaves and 
branches will afford protection from the winter winds. In the centre 
can be placed the deciduous trees. If, however, the farmer wishes 
first to e.xperiment and should think belts of this width entail too 
much cost and labor, belts of two or three rows will be found to make 
remunerative returns, and even one row planted, say not more than 
six feet apart, will give rich returns in increase of crops and add very 
much to the attractions of the estate. The trees for planting should 
be those best adapted to the soil and situation, and will vary much 
with different localities. There are, however, certain trees such as 
the Larch, Scotch and Pitch Pine, that are so well adapted to dry 
soils, rich or poor, and the Norway Spruce, Scotch, Austrian, and 
White Pines, American Arbor Vitae and White Ash, which are the 
best for moist, rich soils, and which so fully meet the wan ts of the 
farmer that they should always form a large portion of his planting. 
Belts composed of Scotch Pine, Norway Spruce, White Ash and Euro- 
pean Larch, planted from the outside of the belt in the order named, 
have been found to meet in almost every particular the need for 
which they are planted, and to afford the farmer every protection in 
the way of timber that he can want. 
The value of such timber-belt is felt very early, and cuttings for 
stakes, hoop poles, bean poles, fuel, &c., begin much more early than 
may be thought ; while the after-products of hop poles, telegraph 
poles, railroad ties, lumber for general use, follow year by year and 
are a constant annual source of profit. The advantages to the crops 
are felt almost immediately, and the return in this way very soon pays 
for all expenditures. “Judge E. C. Whiting, of Monroe Co., Iowa, 
who has had as much experience in forestry and especially in plant- 
ing tree belts, as any other man in the State, assures us that the in- 
crease in his crops consequent upon the use of shelter-belts has paid, 
and will fully pay all expenses for the culture of the trees.”* In con- 
clusion, it may be said that while the planting of shelter belts of trees 
has become a wide-felt necessity, yet such plantation are not like 
fences and many other forced improvements, a constant source of 
expense to the farmer, but are themselves of the greatest advantage 
and profit, and the increased value of a farm which has a well-planted 
and well-situated woodland is such as will many times cover the 
value of all expense in planting. 
* Trans. la. St. Hortl. Scty., 1876. 
