In eighty-five reports that listed set out windbreaks, it was found that fifty-seven growers had used evergreens, thirty-seven willows, twenty-nine box elders, twenty-five maples, seventeen cottonwoods, thirteen ashes, eleven elms, eight poplars, four oaks, four plums, three nuts and one apple. The evergreens consisted of thirteen Scotch pine, eleven evergreens (not named), eight Norway spruce, five spruce (not named), three balsam, three Austrian pine, two white pine, one yellow pine, two cedar, two white spruce, two pine (variety not named), two fir, two jack pine, one Black Hills spruce, and one tamarack. In the willows were given twenty willows (variety not named), two laurel-leaved, seven white and eight golden; in the maples, sixteen soft maples, two hard maples, one silver-maple and six maples (kind not named); in the poplars, five Norway, one Carolina, two poplar (kind not named); and in the nuts, one black walnut, one butternut and one walnut. The major part of the box elders, cottonwoods, willows and ashes were noted in the central west and southwest sections. Thirty-seven experienced growers of windbreaks, the most of them living in the southwest, west central and southeast sections, recommended the following trees for windbreaks in the given proportions, twenty-four evergreens, fifteen willows, seven maples, six poplars, five elms, five box elders, three elms, two plum, two cottonwood, three hedges, one oak, one hackberry and one black walnut. The evergreens are decidedly the most popular, and among the varieties mentioned Norway spruce takes the lead for those recommended, and the Scotch pine for those planted.
There are about as many different systems of planting used as growers. The main point in all cases was to have a planting that would stop the wind and storms. A few growers advocated the use of a hedge or plum trees to fill in under the windbreak, while one grower desires a circulation of air under the branches of his trees. Cultivation and intercropping of windbreaks are also recommended in a few cases. The distance of planting varies, of course, with the trees or shrubs used. For example: one grower recommends 8 ft. x 8 ft. for large deciduous trees, and another grower, 6 ft. x 12 ft. apart in rows and two rows, 12 ft. apart. For Scotch pine one grower advocates eight feet. In some cases a mixture of many kinds of trees is recommended, and then again only one kind. One very solid windbreak is made up of a lilac hedge, four rows of jack pine, four rows of Norway poplar and one row of willow. Another is one row willow, one of evergreen, one of willow and one of evergreen.
Various distances between windbreak and orchard were used and recommended. A large number of orchards were started at about twenty feet from the windbreak and a few as close as one rod, but these distances proved to be too close. One grower, however, recommended close planting and later the removal of a row of trees in the windbreak when more space was needed. The recommended distances for planting varied from thirty to 500 feet, although seventy-five to 100 was satisfactory in most cases.
More details have been given in regard to orchard sites and windbreaks than many of you are probably interested in, but for one who is planning to set out an orchard they should prove of value and profit, as they are based upon the experiences of many of Minnesota's best orchardists.
My Experience with a Young Orchard.
ROY VIALL, SPRING VALLEY.
About ten years ago we acquired some land three and one-half miles north of Spring Valley. This land is very rough and was originally covered with heavy timber, in fact, about one-third of our large orchard was cleared and grubbed out the fall before planting.
When I became interested in fruit growing one of the first things I did was to join the Horticultural Society and to the knowledge obtained through this membership we owe in large measure what success has come to us.