STRIPS FOR FARM SHELTER.
[To THR EDITOR OF THR "8rscrAroa."] SIR,—Afforestation is a word we often see in the leading newspapers of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee; and its meaning and signification are to plant large expanses of waste laud with Scotch fir or spruce, which are in their nature of rapid growth. The planting is an aim which looks well on paper ; but when one begins to entertain the idea and weigh it in all its bearings, say to the extent of a hundred and eighty acres of rough pasture or hill land, one does not all at once apprehend what it really implies, and speedily the idea of afforestation is either abandoned or delayed or misunder- stood. My scheme in the same direction is a lesser one, but, I submit respectfully, much more practical and fertile. I own twelve hundred acres in a Northern Scottish county, and on that estate, comparatively small us things go, I have already planted about forty miles of strips. Now strips in Scotland are much needed for shelter, and when the spruce and Scotch fir are about twelve feet high you find how beneficial they are for agricultural purposes. By means of strips judiciously selected and planted you can render a field which in a high altitude is exposed to all climates, and therefore comfortless, at once habitable night and day by cattle, sheep, lambs, or horses; and, indeed, it attains the quality of what we call in Scotland cuthie,—that is, it is really and truly a shelter, whereas in former years when a gale set in one had to chase one's straw or hay ricks often a mile away and gather them in bunches and armfuls. These ricks had to be carted back to their rightful cornyard or homestead and thatched anew. That result was truly the outcome of want of shelter where heifers, sheep, lambs, horses, cows, bullocks could graze and repose in peace. I hope you will kindly insert this hurried letter, which I have penned to advocate the extension of strips or narrow shreds over farms in the three kingdoms, and especially Ireland and Scotland.—I am, Sir, &c.,
WILLIAM JAPP, V.D.
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