ape during the coming winter will be furnished by the
greens and blues of evergreens.

Did you ever pass a farm home in the winter that was protected by a good
evergreen grove and notice how beautiful it looked? Did you ever stop to
think of the difference in temperature that an evergreen grove makes, to
say nothing of the contrast in the appearance of the place to that of a
home with no grove?

[Illustration: A shelter of old Scotch pine at Mr. Earl Ferris'.]

When I was a small boy I was fortunate enough to be raised on a farm in
Butler County, Iowa, that was well protected by a good Norway spruce,
white pine and Scotch pine windbreak. The Norway spruce and white pine
are still there and if anything better than they were thirty years ago.
At that time my father fed from one to five carloads of stock every
winter back of this grove, and I honestly believe that he fed his steers
at a cost of from $5 to $15 per steer less than a neighboring feeder who
fed out on the open prairie with a few sheds to furnish the only winter
protection. I shall never forget the remark a German made who was
hauling corn to us one cold winter day. As he drove onto the scales back
of this grove, he straightened up and said: "Well, the evergreen grove
feels like putting on a fur coat," and I never heard the difference in
temperature described any better. Our evergreen grove moved our feeding
pens at least 300 miles further south every winter, as far as the cold
was concerned.

[Illustration: Thrifty windbreak of Norway spruce at Mr. Earl Ferris'
place, in Hampton, Ia.]

Near Hampton, Iowa, we have three or four of the best stock raisers in
the United States. Every one of them is feeding cattle back of a large
evergreen grove. In recent years they have divided up some of their
large farms into smaller places and made new feeding sheds, and the
first improvement that they made on each and every one of these places
was an evergreen grove. They buy the best trees that can be obtained
that have been transplanted and root pruned, and most of them prefer the
Norway spruce in the two to three foot size. After planting, they take
as good care of them as they do of any crop on the farm, for they fully
realize that cultivation is an all important thing in getting a good
evergreen grove started.

Several days ago, I talked with one of these feeders who has time and
again topped the Chicago market. He made the remark that the buildings
on his farm co