Turnbull Road

Haldimand Stewardship Council's discussion of Haldimand County's tree-planting policies continues.  There are various tree-planting programs in place that could be brought together.  The council is considering making a presentation to County Council.

"Starting in 1883, municipalities could pay farmers up to twenty-five cents for each roadside hardwood tree planted, on either side of the fence.  Careful positioning helped control erosion." LOOKING FOR OLD ONTARIO, 1997, Toronto University Press.

"We read in Canada Farmer's Sun* of the resident who cut down his line of non-productive forest trees.  The journalist urged others, as a compromise, to plant nut trees at the roadside.  Shade benefited church-goers, weary travelers, and sweaty kine [cows] on sultry August afternoons. It did not matter that such trees did not grow ramrod straight for the satisfaction of lumber merchants.  As for the romantics, the play of light and shadow through basswood or hemlock added immeasurable to the maturing landscape.  Wrote one, trees relieve the parched and dusty appearance of the country in summer, and break the dreary monotony of the winter landscape.
As the forest cover diminished, ground-level winds increased and blowing snow became a menace to winter travel.  Windswept the raised roadways clean in some places.  Newly erected rail fences disrupted the flow of air and caused deep drifts to accumulate elsewhere. Neither sleighs nor wagons could be used properly.

*7 Feb. 1893.