SUBDUING THE LAND I2/ 



these grass and clover seeds should be planted in freshly 

 worked soil and not covered deeply by leaves and weeds, 

 it is wise, in many cases, to choose a dry time and burn 

 the surface over, using care to remove leaves from about 

 valuable trees, thus to avoid their being injured by the 

 fire. Cutting up the surface by means of a spring tooth 

 harrow, or a heavily built and weighted A harrow, or 

 double A harrow, or by means of a disk harrow, gives a 

 place for the grass seeds to germinate. Experience 

 proves that seeds planted in these lands, in northern 

 or drouthy sections, are more certain to germinate and 

 live if planted early in the spring. This gives the roots a 

 strong hold on the soil before hot, dry summer conditions 

 prevail, and the crowns are then sufficiently mature to 

 endure the severity of the first winter. In southern 

 moister sections, early autumn, or even late autumn or 

 winter planting of grasses and clover is sometimes best. 

 Fire as a means of clearing up timber lands is a very 

 useful and dangerous agency. In very dry seasons 

 great forest fires sweep over large tracts, sometimes cov- 

 ering many townships, and sometimes entire counties are 

 burned over, as in the case of the Hinckley fire in Pine 

 county, Minnesota, in 1894. Immense quantities of tim- 

 ber of more or less value are destroyed, the brush is 

 burned to the ground ; partially rotted logs and other 

 forms of " down timber " are consumed. But these forest 

 conflagrations in dry seasons do not stop with the con- 

 sumption of the useful trees and the useless wood and 

 brush. They burn up the thick mulch of leaves and twigs 

 and nearly decayed matter on the surface of the soil, 

 which would be valuable if the farmer could save it until 

 his plow has turned it under the furrow-slice to become 

 useful in forming fertility. The damage from fire does 

 not even stop here. The heat from the burning wood and 

 leaves penetrates and destroys much of the organic mat- 

 ter already incorporated among the stony particles of the 



