CHAPTER VIII 

 SUBDUING THE LAND 



In subduing the land we meet a variety of problems. 

 The labor, time and expense of subduing the native 

 grass sod on a field of undulating prairie land is not 

 more than double the cost of plowing under the stubble 

 of one crop, preparatory to planting another. Where 

 the land is wet and part or all the field must be drained, 

 there is a material addition to the cost; and often much 

 time must elapse before the soil is drained and ready 

 to receive the seeds of a cultivated crop and bring in 

 returns for capital invested in the wet acres. Where 

 brush, trees, stones or even coarse peat are present, 

 there is an added outlay of labor required, and the date 

 when profits may be realized on the land is still further 

 delayed. 



A large portion of our wooded lands has rich soils 

 free of stones, and is well adapted to use as arable lands 

 in rotative cropping. Much of the land covered with 

 native trees, however, is rough, stony, wet or otherwise 

 not adapted to the use of the plow, and would best be 

 used for permanent grass land or for the continued 

 growth of forest crops. 



Brushing the land is usually the first operation in 

 forest-covered land, that there may be little to impede 

 the operations of grubbing, and that the piled brush 

 may be dry and useful in aiding to burn the stumps. 

 In new districts, remote from large centers of popu- 

 lation, much good wood, and even straight timber sticks, 

 must be sacrificed to the flames because of the too great 

 expense of transporting them to market. 



