24 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
and to shelter old wagons and worn-out machinery. 
Trees in this way are seriously injured, and so riddled 
with iron that it is impossible to saw them into 
boards; in fact, unfit even for fuel, because of the 
injury to axes and saws in working them. Trees are 
too valuable to be used in this way. The life of a 
tree may be prolonged many years by giving it a little 
care. It is surprising the large number of trees which 
are thus thoughtlessly crippled or injured. 
Silviculture is of special importance to farmers 
for the following reasons: First, the forest yields 
fuel, wood for constructive purposes, litter, and other 
material of use to every farmer. Every now and then 
a farmer cuts a stick from his wood-lot for a fence- 
post, for a vine or tree prop, for an ax-handle or 
swingletree, as a matter of course. Were all the 
materials yielded by the wood-lot counted at their full 
value, I believe the wood-lot would be rated the most 
important feature of the farm. For a large portion 
of the year at least, wood is the common farm fuel. 
The fence problem is also an important one, and the 
farmer who produces his own fence material saves a 
very important outlay. The fences on a farm often 
represent a larger cash outlay than the land itself. 
Second, these materials, over and above what 
the farmer may need for home consumption, may be 
sold to good advantage. In that way he may earn 
