108 EMIGRATION, OR 



and underbrush, burn them, and girdle the remainder of 

 the trees ; sow this ground with wheat early in the fall, or 

 part with oats in the spring, and with them clover, and a 

 small quantity of grass seeds mixed ; the clover grass to be 

 mowed the first year or two, and grazed afterwards. Do 

 the same the next year with some more, for six or seven 

 years in succession, and likewise clear a small piece quite 

 off, for corn and potatoes, cabbages, &c. in front of the 

 house, and next to the road or street. In about six or seven 

 years the roots of the trees will be rotten, and some of the 

 girdled ones fallen ; then begin and chop down ten or 

 fifteen acres of these girdled trees, yearly, in a dry time, 

 felling them across each other to break them into pieces ; 

 put fire into them in various parts of the field, and it will 

 burn most of them up ; what little may be left unconsumed, 

 must be collected into heaps and burnt. It is necessary to 

 keep a watch over the fences while this is going on, that 

 they do not take fire. After this you may plough and plant 

 what you please, as generally the ground will be in pretty 

 good condition. 



This system is pursued in some plains, and ought to be 

 more generally adopted, particularly the first few years of 

 entering upon an entire wild farm, on account of the little 

 trouble at a time there is so much else to do. But some 

 object, and say there is too much danger that the cattle 

 will be killed by the falling of the girdled trees, and the 

 fences also broken. To which I answer, cattle need not be 

 near them, only a little in the fall of the first two years, as 

 the clover and grass will be mown for hay ; and they may 

 be put there only in still weather afterwards, and in the 

 day time ; and as to the fences, after cutting out the decayed 

 standing trees, and a few of those that stand near, and have 

 an inclination towards them, there will be but few, if any, 

 rails broken by their falling ; and if there should be a few, 

 they can soon be replaced, as one man will cut and split 

 five or six rods of fence in a day, and put it up, if the tim 

 ber be good. In choosing a farm, or lot of wild land, or 

 indeed, any land in this country, it should always be first 

 ascertained if there be plenty of good rail timber growing 

 thereon, such as oak, hickory, ash, cedar, chestnut, pine, 

 butternut, cherry, and black walnut ; but good trees of the 

 two latter kind, I would never use for that purpose, as they 

 now are useful, and will be in a few years very valuable, for 



