180 Twenty-First Biennial Eeport 



species, or it migM be soft woods, as willow, ash, or 

 soft maple which are common to all Kentucky. Eecent 

 information in regard to fence posts made from such soft 

 woods as have here been enumerated, shows that the 

 treatment of such woods with a preservative, as creo- 

 sote, can be made for approximately three cents per post,- 

 and that the life of the post so treated is from twenty to 

 twenty-five years. Other uses to which timber raised 

 in the woodlot can be devoted are ties, mining timber, 

 hoops, poles, etc. There is one use to which trees on 

 the farm may be put, which, up to the present time-, has 

 been little appreciated in Kentucky, and that is in the 

 establishment of windbreaks. In the Western United 

 States, especially in the treeless region, where the wind 

 has full sweep for miles, one of the earliest uses to which 

 trees were put was in the planting of windbreaks for the 

 protection of the house and bam lots. This use is 

 rapidly extending. The planting of a windbreak in Ken- 

 tucky can, with very material benefit, be carried on in 

 much greater degree than has heretofore been attempted. 

 The value of the windbreak in connection with the or- 

 chards, truck gardens, fields, etc., is very direct and defi- 

 nite. There is the additional fact that the windbreak 

 may be made to supply material for use on the farm, 

 such as posts, in addition to performing their mechanical 

 function as breaks. A large variety of trees may be 

 used for this purpose, but, undoubtedly, a large per- 

 centage of evergreens in the windbreak will increase its 

 value, especially during the winter season when high 

 winds, as a usual thing, prevail. Windbreaks may also 

 be made to serve in a large measure to beautify the farm, 

 and in this modem age, the actual beauty of the farm it- 

 self is no small asset. The use of trees around the farm 

 home and outbuildings, both for the shade they afford 

 and for the screen which they effect to undesirable views, 

 is a use which should be emphasized in connection with 

 farm life. In considering the raising of a forest crop on 

 the farm, the work involved may be accomplished almost 

 entirely in the winter when ordiaarily the stock and the 

 labor available is not otherwise employed, so that the 

 other farm activities are not interfered with; and the 



