76 TALKS ABOUT THE SOIL. 



a ring round the tree, through the bark, and let it 

 slowly die. This would let the light in between the 

 trees, because the leaves would shrivel and fall off; 

 and in time the wind would blow the dead tree down. 

 Another and a better way is to cut the tree down, and 

 drag it away. The limbs and bark can be burned, and 

 the logs sold to the lumberman. That leaves only the 

 stumps in the ground ; and these can be pulled up 

 and burned, or dragged out of the field. This hard, 

 rough work is called " clearing the land," and has been 

 done by our fathers ever since they landed on this 

 continent. In many of our States and Territories, the 

 work is still going on. It is even done in the old 

 States like New York, by men who still think it cheaper 

 to clear off the trees, and find the wild land, and thus 

 slowly tame it, than to buy old fields that were cleared 

 off a hundred years ago. In some places the virgin 

 soil will be good, and the work will pay ; but we must 

 remember that our fathers and grandfathers were wise 

 men in their day, and they found out all the best land, 

 and cleared it up, long before we were born. Nearly 

 all the land that is now being cleared in the older 

 States is poor land, and the virgin soils to be found 

 will not compare with the virgin soils our grandfathers 

 found way back before the Revolution. 



In our Western States and Territories, there are 

 virgin soils without trees. On such soils, all this labor 

 of clearing away the trees is saved, and we have noth- 

 ing to do but to prepare the ground at once for our 

 plants. In the old forests there were very few small 



