Shelterbelt Influences: II. The Value of Shelterbelts in House-Heating

A good belt of trees protecting the farm home was estimated by farm owners in eastern South Dakota to reduce the fuel bill about 25 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Shelterbelt administrative force in 1935. That this is well within the limits of a belt giving substantial protection only from northerly winds, is shown by the experimental data here presented and analyzed; while protection from both north and west winds may increase this substantially, and all-around protection in the center of a grove or forest might effect a saving of 40 percent. The experimental data have been adjusted to actual heating conditions of the typical farm home, and calculations made for wind and temperature conditions which prevail at four different latitudes in the Plains region. These facts should discourage the removal or too severe thinning of farmstead groves in the present emergency, with a view to effecting savings in coal. Total fuel consumed may be much greater if the protective belt is weakened, and only dead wood could profitably be employed to replace coal.