144 HOW TO GET A FARM, 



that for some time the owner could not decide to 

 whom it belonged. 



It will doubtless occur to the intelligent reader 

 that Dr. Miller committed an oversight in destroy 

 ing by fire the immense amount of sods, grass-roots, 

 muck, and peat, which he thus removed with the 

 alder and other roots. From so large a surface, and 

 going to so great a depth, the accumulation must 

 have been enormous. Though when dry it would 

 readily burn, yet it was in reality a highly concen 

 trated manure. There was a certain value in every 

 load, as would have been manifested had it been 

 applied to other land. But the Doctor admits that 

 he kept a loose account of the profits he gained by 

 removing this mass of vegetable matter, and says, 

 &quot; I was more anxious to get rid of it than to make 

 anything out of it.&quot; As he managed the affair, he 

 thinks he realized about 1200 bushels of ashes. But 

 it may be safely assumed that the real value of the 

 manure thus passed through the destructive ordeal 

 of fire, was fully equal to a third, if not the half, 

 of the whole cost of removing and replacing it. 



This estimate is warranted by my own experience. 

 Some four years since I began the operation of re 

 claiming a jungle of three acres, which, since the 

 foundation of the world, had produced no crop but 

 alders, briars, hassocks, ferns, and bumble-bees. It 

 was too soft for cattle to graze through it, and in 

 many places would almost mire a goose. The alders 

 had been cut off thirty years previous, but the roots 

 had been left in the ground. For all agricultural 

 purposes this meadow was absolutely worthless. 



