CLEARING UP. 135 



according to the condition in which it is found when its 

 improvement is first begun. The processes most fre 

 quently found necessary are clearing, draining, ploughing, 

 harrowing and rolling. 



420. Clearing is generally required in a new country, 

 or when new land or woodland is to be cultivated. In 

 these cases the soil rarely allows even the most ordinary 

 operations of farming. It is often covered with trees or 

 forests, or with rocks which would interfere very much 

 with successful tillage. 



421. The term clearing, in a new country, is applied 

 to the cutting down and burning or removing of all the 

 timber and brushwood from the lot. This is simple, 

 though hard work. The trees are felled, if possible, in 

 June, when in full leaf, and the ground may be burned 

 over in season to sow in a crop of winter rye upon the 

 surface. This is the case in remote sections where the 

 timber has so little value as not to pay for removal, and 

 where it is usually burned on the ground. But in other 

 locations, the wood may be cut and removed in winter, 

 and the work of clearing continued the following summer. 

 Sometimes on account of its situation, the cleared land 

 must be devoted to pasturage. In these cases grass seed 

 is sown along with the rye, and cattle turned upon it the 

 following season. But generally the sides of steep hills, 

 or land so rough that it cannot be cleared and prepared 

 for cultivation except at great expense, should be kept for 

 woodland. 



422. The next step in preparing wild lands for farming, 

 is to remove the stumps and stones. Several simple 

 machines have been constructed to do this, by which a 

 powerful leverage or purchase is gained, so as to raise a 

 stump or stone of several tons weight from its bed. A 



