110 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



their lands. But wood and timber sufficient for fuel, for 

 building, for carriages, and implements of farming, cannot 

 be dispensed with. Of these, the Farmer will always find 

 it most advantageous to keep the requisite stock himself, 

 and not rely on others for purchasing it. Nor is it advisa- 

 ble to have his woodlands separate, and at a considerable 

 distance from his farm ; unless it be in parts of the country 

 where part of the lands are too valuable to be kept in wood, 

 and other adjacent parts are only fit for that purpose. 



When the Farmer is clearing up his farm, he ought to 

 reserve, for woodland, that part which is least adapted for 

 tillage, or for grass. Land which is swampy with a thin 

 soil over a sandy bottom ; that is rocky and hilly ; or that is 

 dry, poor, or very gravelly, may do well for woodland; 

 While it would answer but indifferently for tillage. 



The quantity of ground to be set apart for this purpose 

 must depend on the size of the farm ; the quality of the 

 soil of the woodland; the nature of the climate ; and, fre- 

 quently, according to the demand or market for wood ; for, 

 in some cases, it may be found more profitable to keep 

 tolerably good land in wood, than in any other cultivation. 

 Of the natural growth of wood, it will require as much as 

 twenty acres, or more, to keep two fires, according to the 

 common method of using wood for fuel; but it is a very 

 easy matter to have siting- rooms warmed, and all the cook- 

 ing and other apparatus of the kitchen so contrived, as not 

 to require more than one- third of the wood that is com- 

 monly used. 



See WARMING OF ROOMS. 



To thicken a forest, or to prevent its becoming too thin, 

 cattle should be kept out of it at all seasons. The seeds, 

 or cutings of trees, of rapid growth, should also be set, or 

 planted, in every part that becomes destitute of growing 

 wood. If woodland be suffered to become so thin, that the 

 sun can get in and cause the ground to be covered with a 

 sward of grass, this will prevent the further growth of 

 young timber; and in this way the ground eventually be- 

 comes striped of all its growth. This, however, is not the 

 case with the locust, as it encourages the growth of grass 

 amongst it, and in this situation grows very rapidly Per- 

 haps the Farmer will find, when he is reduced to the ne- 

 cessity of planting wood for fuel, that this tree will answer 

 his purpose best. 

 See LOCUST. 



The Lombardy poplar also grows very rapidly, is easily 

 raised from cutings, and, when cut and dried, will answer 

 tolerably well for fuel. 



The easiest method of raising the locust is as follows: 

 Plant, in the first instance, about fifteen or twenty trees on 



