IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
93 
cultural land which in the future must and will produce a large part of the posts 
and repair material needed on the farms. This agricultural region offers two 
lines of planting problems for consideration. First, planting from standpoint of 
protection. This phase of forestry has been an importane one to the dweller 
on the prairies since settlement first began. Without agitation on the part of 
those early interested in forestry in this country windbreaks were planted as 
soon as settlers began pushing out across the prairies. Seeds and cuttings of 
species native along the waterways were first used because easily accessible and 
cheap. A little later seeds of eastern species were sent out to the prairies by 
relatives of the settlers, and men like Prof. Parry of Davenport, Iowa; Prof. 
Henry H. McAfee, who was secretary of the original American Forestry Asso- 
ciation organized in Chicago on September 10th, 1875; ex-Governor Furnas of 
Nebraska; Arthur Bryant of Princeton, Illinois, and Prof. Budd of Iowa were 
instrumental in introducing evergreens from both the east and the west. In this 
way all of the native species and a very large number of exotics have been 
given trial and it is safe to say that the problem of the species best adapted for 
windbreak planting in this section is pretty thoroughly solved. What we do not 
know and what seem very important problems to be solved during the next few 
years are, first, just what influences windbreaks of different species have upon 
wind currents of varying velocities and upon rapidity of evaporation under dif- 
ferences of temperature and humidity; second, just how far windbreaks of vary- 
ing heights will produce a calm to the leeward under differences of topography, 
and, third, the influence of the nearness and denseness of windbreaks upon grain 
and fruit production, plant diseases and injuries by frost. Our own efficient 
Weather Service has done a little preliminary work along these lines and we 
know of the results obtained by M. Becquerel in the Rhone Valley and others, 
yet the problems above referred to are really unsolved and offer an extremely 
interesting field to the investigator. 
Every year throughout this region soil erosion is causing greater injury to 
fields and their crops, barren ridges and bottom lands. Both the increase in 
price and in the crop production possibilities of the land are yearly making it 
more necessary that this serious damage from erosion be prevented. Many land 
owners appreciate the seriousness of allowing erosion to continue, while others 
do not, and until all know there should be a vigorous campaign of education 
along this one line. Such efforts as have been made to prevent erosion have 
been unsystematic and temporary. A few desultory studies have been made 
here and there, but more thorough investigations are needed with the results so 
presented that owners of land susceptible to erosion will not allow it to begin 
and upon lands where it has begun effective measures will be carried out to 
prevent further injury. 
Within the limits of this region there are a few areas subject to soil move- 
ment by wind and in several instances actual sand dunes are forming. Through- 
out the country as a whole damage resulting from dune formation and move- 
ment is very much larger than ordinarily supposed. As most of the dune areas 
are adjacent to waterways and large bodies of water, it may be that the actual 
work of dune reclamation belongs to the War Department, but experience 
abroad, as well as in this country, has shown conclusively that grass planting 
alone as a means of dune reclamation cannot be otherwise than a temporary 
expedient. If the solution of the dune problems belongs in any scientific 
bureau of our government it is in the Forest Service. 
