PREPARING AND ENRICHING THE SOIL. yi 



if all the stumps could be removed before planting, but this 

 might involve too great preliminary expense, and I always 

 counsel against debt except in the direst necessity. A little 

 brush burned on each stump will effectually check new 

 growth, and, in two or three years, these unsightly objects 

 will be so rotten that they can be pried out, and easily 

 turned into ashes, one of the best of fertilizers. In the 

 meantime, the native strength of the land will cause a 

 growth which will compensate for the partial lack of deep 

 and thorough cultivation which the stumps and roots pre- 

 vent. Those who have travelled West and South have seen 

 fine crops of corn growing among the half-burned stumps, 

 and strawberries will do as well. 



But where trees or brush have growTi very thickly, the 

 roots and stumps must be eradicated. The thick growth 

 on the sandy land of Florida is grubbed out at the cost of 

 about $30 per acre, and I knov/ of a gentleman who pays at 

 the rate of ^25 per acre in the vicinity of Norfolk, Va. I 

 doubt whether it can be done for less elsewhere. 



In some regions they employ a stump extractor, a rude 

 but strong machine, worked by blocks and pulleys, with 

 oxen as motor power. From "The Farmer's Advocate " of 

 London, Ont., I learn that an expert with one of these ma- 

 chines, aided by five men and two yoke of oxen, was in the 

 habit of clearing fifty acres annually. 



I have cleaned hedge-rows and stony spots on my place 

 in the following thorough manner : A man commences with 

 pick and shovel on one side of the land and turns it steadily 

 and completely over by hand to the depth of fourteen to 

 eighteen inches, throwing on the surface behind him all the 

 roots, stumps and stones, and stopping occasionally to blast 

 when the rocks are too large to be pried out. This, cf 

 course, is expensive, and cannot be largely indul/^ed in; 



