8 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 380 



tice of annually burning over their woodlands, but the serious effects of this 

 operation were quickly evident. According to Judd, "a law of "Massachusetts 

 in 1743, made to restrain such fires, says the burning of the woods greatly im- 

 poverishes the soil, prevents the growth of the wood and destroys much fence. "^^ 

 But in order to clear land for their tilled crops, the early colonists cut down and 

 frequently burned over large areas of the natural forest. Although the first 

 colonists apparently felt some restraint in the reckless destruction of their forests, 

 those that came after them did not. Jared Eliot, writing in 1747, related, "They 

 tho't themselves obliged to stubb all Staddle [grub out all small trees], and cut 

 down or lop all great Trees; in which they expended much Cost and Time, to 

 the prejudice of the Crop and impoverishing the Land."!* An anonymous writer 

 in 1775 wrote: "They not only cut down timber to raise their buildings and fences, 

 but in clearing the grounds for cultivation they destroy all that comes in their 

 way, as if they had nothing to do but to get rid of it at all events as fast as pos- 

 sible."i5 



The most serious consequence of the removal of all tree growth was not so 

 much the loss of a considerable quantity of vegetative material itself as the 

 destruction of the principal source of supply for the surface-accumulating layer 

 of "vegetable mould" or organic matter, the only important reserve of soil fertility. 

 The shallow- rooted, short-lived, rapid-growing farm crops were a poor substitute 

 in this respect for the deep-rooted, long-lived, slow-growing forest trees. 



For a time, newly cleared lands with their rich accumulation of humus were 

 very productive. Referring to the newer settlements, the author of American 

 Husbandry wrote in 1775: "Worse ploughing is nowhere to be seen, yet the 

 farmers get tolerable crops; this is owing, particularly in the new settlements, 

 to the looseness and fertility of old woodlands, which with very bad tillage, will 

 yield excellent crops."i6 A few years later, in 1800, Timothy Dwight observed, 

 "It is the universal tendency of the mould to produce great crops''^'^; and in 

 another instance, "This mould is the manure, and ultimately the soil, of grounds 

 long forested; and always yielding rich crops with very slovenly cultivation."!* 

 As long as the supply of soil organic matter lasted, good crops were grown, but 

 when the store was exhausted, yields fell off badly. The burning over of timber 

 lands, the continued removal of fertility through harvested crops, and the in- 

 jurious effects of tillage, including the acceleration of the rate of decomposition 

 of organic matter and greatly increased losses from leaching and surface erosion, 

 were all important factors contributing to a rapid depletion of the soil's native 

 fertility. 



As early as 1637 one writer, speaking of the light sandy soils first cultivated 

 in the vicinity of Cape Cod, wrote, "This soil is like your woodland in England, 

 best at first, yet afterward grows more barren. "^^ As indicated by Jared Eliot 

 in 1747, very little effort was made to return to the land even part of the fertility 

 which was removed or destroyed. "... the Land being new they depended 

 upon the natural Fertility of the Ground, which served their purpose very well, 

 and when they had worn out one piece they cleared another, without any con- 

 cern to amend their land, except a little helped by the Fold and Cart-dung. . . . 

 Our poor Land is so poor that it will not bear Turnips bigger than Buttons. "^o 



l^History of Hadley [Mass.] (New ed., Springfield. Mass.. 1905). p. 98. 



^''Essays on Field Husbandry in New England [Boston, 1760] (1934 ed.), p. 1. 



^^American Husbandry, p. 61. 



l^Ibid., p. 60. 



"Travels. II, 343. 



l^Ibid., I, 103. 



l^New England Quarterly, IX, 219. 



^Opield Husbandry, p. 29. 



