In his autobiographical book entitled The World Is My Home, author James Michener wrote about an incident in his life which took place when he was but five years of age.  The farmer at the end of the lane where they lived had an old apple tree that was no longer productive. Instead of cutting down the tree, the farmer took eight long rusty nails and drove them into the tree, four at the base of the tree and four additional ones higher up, quite evenly spaced.