From the Administrator

moisture, and farmers nursed them alongcarrying water to them in a barrel and even protecting the small plants with windbreaks of their own made from shingles stuck in the ground. The reason for all this trouble was protection: protection against wind erosion, protection for livestock, protection for the farmstead.

Since its earliest years, the Soil Conservation Service has encouraged windbreaks in the Plains. Many SCSers can remember when there were real questions as to whether windbreaks could survive at all in such country. With present technology and plants, however, we now can tailor a windbreak to meet a landowner's specific needs.

Today, no farmstead in the Great Plains can afford to be without a windbreak.

-Windbreaks conserve an estimated 15 to 20 percent in fuel requirements around farmsteads.

-Windbreaks protect livestock. Many paid for themselves in cattle saved during last winter's severe blizzards.

-Windbreaks are a major protection against wind erosion. With nearly 9 million acres of new cropland going into production last year-much of it in the Plains-additional windbreaks are crucial to protect this highly susceptible area from wind erosion.

Additional benefits include beauty and wildlife habitat. Windbreaks are especially important to pheasants in the winter.

Through his conservation district, a landowner can get assistance in designing, planting, developing, and improving windbreaks to meet his needs in a total conservation plan.

He'll be tapping many links in a conservation chain: the soil survey; the hardier, better adapted plants for windbreaks developed at SCS plant materials centers; sturdy stock, often obtained through his conservation district.

A typical windbreak in the Plains today might include green ash, Siberian elm, eastern redcedar, Russian-olive, and other trees selected for their fruit or beauty.

And it's a lot easier-and more successfulthan going down to the river and collecting "wildlings."