The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-11-20
NORTHWEST NEEDS MORE
W|NDbREAkS VALUE Of TREES
TO FARMERS EXPLAINED
Wind Sweeping Across Prairie Scatter foul SEEDS
and Absorb Moisture, Doing Great Damage.

Northwest Farmstead. The wind
break is the simplest form Of protec'
ton against the annoyances and, to a
great extent, the destructive effects
Of prevailing winds. AS to their me-
chanical mischief, any obstruction
that may be raised that will interfere
with the steady, onward sweep of the
low air currents will tend to lessen
their violence or their destructive ten
denotes. A single row of trees extend
ing at right angles with the prevail
ing winds exert noticeable influence
upon air currents, even though they
are not of the kind that form COM
pact mass of foliage.
Who has not felt the migrating in
fluence of a row of Lambordy poplars
against strong north wind when
travelling through northern Iowa or
Illinois in the dead of winter? While
the trees themselves, being barren Of
leaves, could only interpose their
trunks and naked branches, yet ap-
parently the slight interruption of the
air currents produced by these trees
actually modified the severity of the
cutting blasts to an appreciate
degree. A denser growth of trees
would have produced a more marked
effect, especially if several rows of
soft, low branching variety had been
cultivated instead of single row of
the Lombardy type. A mixture of
hardy pine, such as the Black Hills
spruce, would provide even more ef-
feetual barrier against winter winds.
In bleak countries, such as western
Minnesota and the Dakotas during
several months of the year, the plant
ing of windbreaks at regular intervals,
say one mile apart Tor better still,
one-half mile apart), the windbreaks
extending east and west across the
state would greatly modify the Sc
verify of the winter winds. More
over, the drifting SHOWS would be con-
fined to the mile or the half-mile
strips, instead of being otherwise car
ried to indefinite distances and piled
up wherever they find an obstruction.
Wayfarers overtaken by sudden
storms also would have not only con-
siderable protection, but landmark
that would guide them to some place
of shelter. Billiards which some
times come up suddenly would, in a
great measure, be shorn of both their
terrors and of their severity. A small
grove planted in proximity to the
farmstead affords protection to live
stock and to the farm buildings. The
trees break the force of the winds and
cause the snow to lodge elsewhere
than about the buildings. Their bene
fetal influence is of such general OBJ
servation as to require no argument
for their propagation on every farm.
For special purposes, however, such
as the protection of valuable orchards
and the shelter of homes, the utility
of the windbreak may be so great that
its timber value need not be consider
ed. With general system of wind
breaks, however, extending over the
entire country, the beneficial effects
would be worth many times their cost,
viewed exclusively as protection
against the winter storms.
While the high winds of early spring
inflict less loss or discomfort to ami
NAL life than those of midwinter, yet
they cause, unless checked or modi-
fed, considerable destruction to fruit
trees, and in regions where the soil
is light or otherwise not properly
cared for, considerable injury to crops
by blowing the surface soil away. In
a single season thousands of acres are
sometimes uncovered by spring winds
and the crops wholly or partially
ruined. The unbroken sweep of
winds that persistently hug the earth
do the mischief. On the other hand,
where the wind comes in broken gusts
or blasts the damage is not so great
as where it has long, steady pull at
the ground.
Practically all agree that any OBJ.
struotion interposed that breaks the
force Of the wind or tends to dis.
turb its hugging pull on the surface
of the soil modifies its injurious eff.
fects. While a single windbreak
thirty or more feet in height might
not protect the soil from blowing
more than one rod from the tree foi
every foot Of the windbreaks' heighth
yet he mere hurting of the wind
break ~ the air currents tends to dis
organize them. And where the air
currents are required to hurdle at
forty or fifty foot high windbreaks
every mile, and in regions of light soil