When the improvement of the woodlot is seriously under consideration, one of the first propositions is to determine just what purpose the woodlot will serve in the economy of the farm. Ordinarily a woodlot will be maintained for the following reasons: 1. To furnish fence posts; 2. To furnish fuel; 3. As a shelter belt for certain areas or for the whole farm; 4. As a protection on steep up-lands against erosion; 5. As a means of regeneration of worn out land; 6. As an investment pure and simple, without regard to immediate returns; 7. For the aesthetic value. Any combination of these reasons may prevail for the maintenance of a woodlot; however, each one of them will be discussed in its turn as separate propositions. 1. Probably one of the chief reasons for maintaining the woodlot on farms in Kentucky from the purely utilitarian standpoint will be to obtain fence posts. These are a commodity on the farm which cannot be dispensed with and for which the demand is staple. Concrete may and will at some future date, supersede wood as fence posts, especially in rich easily accessible agricultural regions where farming is very profitable and conducted as a business, but it will do this only slowly in remote regions, and at the present time concrete posts are not extensively used in any locality. A woodlot can then be reasonably maintained for the production of fence posts. Ordinarily the posts are largely consumed on the home farm, since they are more valuable to the producer at this point than if he should sell them; however, if there is a surplus, a market for this will not be lacking and the price obtained will more than justify the cost of the establishment of the woodlot and its maintenance up to the time of harvesting the crop. In considering the species which lend themselves most readily to the production of this class of products in Kentucky, undoubtedly, black locust (Robinia pseudacacia) sometimes locally called yellow locust, lends itself most readily to this purpose. It is indigenous to the State, grows fairly rapidly and lasts a long time in contact with the soil, three prime requisites of any species which is to be used in the growing of this class of material. Other species which may be used are catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), walnut, osage orange, chestnut and juniper (also known locally as cedar or red cedar).