WHERE TO PLANT. 57 



The growth of timber on these lands is, as its name de- 

 notes, chiefly pine, with here and there small oaks, shrubs, 

 wild persimmons, hickory, and a few other trees, some- 

 times solitary, but more frequently in groups ; and where 

 the latter occurs it is called " scrub hammock." The rule 

 is, that where tall, straight pine trees are found, large in 

 size, and about seventy to the acre, and no undergrowth, 

 except the wire-grass may be so termed, the land is first- 

 class ; where the small oak trees are scattered thinly about, 

 it is second class, and where these oaks surpass the pines in 

 number it is less desirable, being inferior to the others. 

 There is something to be said, however, even for this ; it 

 is very poor at first, it is true, but it responds quickly to 

 fertilizers, and even the poorest of it can be brought to a 

 high degree of cultivation, and thereafter continually im- 

 proves year by year. 



There is only one way of clearing hammock land, and 

 that we have mentioned ; there are, however, several ways 

 of preparing pine land for a grove. One way is to girdle 

 the trees, which deadens them and puts an immediate stop 

 to the great drain of their wide-spreading roots upon the 

 plant-food lying latent in the ground. The trees thus 

 girdled are left standing, and then the land is ready for 

 fencing and plowing : but in a few months the dead limbs 

 begin to fall, and so continue for several years, and the 

 branches must either be carried away from time to time, 

 or else allowed to remain where they fall to be an eye-sore 

 and a constant annoyance in cultivation. 



The first cost of this method of clearing is very little, 

 only about two dollars per acre or less, but it is a very un- 

 satisfactory way, and likely to cost more in the end than 

 it saved in the beginning. 



After a few years' time, when the orange grove is fully 

 under way, the deadened trees will begin to fall during 



