20 THE FARMER'S AND 



But to return to our soberer work. 



The system of clearing by slashing, as it is termed, it 

 not a good one. By all means avoid it. Girdling trees, 

 leaving them to decay of themselves, and after they have 

 fallen to burn them, is another poor way of clearing. It 

 is practiced, however, in many places, and has its advo- 

 cates. 



Having burnt the logs and brush on the land, the ashes 

 that remain should be made into " Black Salts," (if there 

 be a good quantity.) By turning to the article entitled 

 " Black Salts," the reader will learn the process. An 

 acre of well timbered land will furnish from seventy-five 

 to one hundred and fifty bushels of ashes. Every four 

 hundred bushels of ashes will make a ton of potash or 

 pearlash. 



The land should now be fenced into ten-acre lots, with 

 a fence seven rails in height. The article, "Fences," 

 in this book, will give the necessary information on this 

 point. 



When the land is fenced, it is ready for sowing. In 

 September, sow one and a quarter (or half) bushels of 

 wheat to the acre. " Drag " it in with the harrow, and 

 cross-drag it, so as to be sure that it is well covered. A 

 good workman will take a peck-axe, and peck the land 

 around the stumps, and see that it is thoroughly seeded. 

 The land is now in a fair way to yield a good crop the next 

 season. Early in the following spring, sow on the same 

 land, in among the wheat, four quarts of grass seed, either 

 herds'-grass or timothy, to the acre. After the wheat is 

 harvested, this grass will become meadow, in which state 

 it should lie till the roots of the stumps shall have rotted, 

 so as to enable you to plough the land, which will be in 

 about five years. 



We have thus traced the process of clearing, sowing, 

 and grass-seeding a piece of land. The first spring and 



