CHAPTER XVIII 



CLEARING THE LAND 



IT is pretty good fun to hack at bushes and to chop trees 

 down and then to chop them up. If there is only a small 

 part of the land to be cleared, a man can easily learn skill 

 with the ax and do it at odd times, but he was a wise old 

 man of whom his little girl said, " When grandpa wants any- 

 thing, that moment he wants it." It is now that we need 

 the land ; but even if it is covered with trees, there is no 

 cause for discouragement. Lumber is so high that the 

 local or portable sawmill men will buy the timber by the 

 acre. They will cut the trees and haul the logs. 



If you decide to cut a tree yourself, a little inquiry will 

 show for what purpose it will bring the highest price. Lo- 

 cust sticks, for example, four to six inches thick, will bring 

 in New York ten or fifteen cents a running foot for insulator 

 pinions. If a maple proves to be either "curly" or "bird's- 

 eye" (this depending not on the variety, but on the acci- 

 dental undulations of the fiber), it will be in demand for the 

 manufacture of furniture. 



Sugar maples ten or fifteen feet high can be transplanted 

 or sold. Nut and fruit trees will nearly always be worth 

 keeping. 



Cedar sticks fourteen feet long will bring twenty cents in 

 most places for hop and bean poles. See what can be sold 

 instead of burned, and don't cut down recklessly ; an unsal- 



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