14 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 380 



want of pastures: cattle will live and multiply in their woods, but they will never 

 be cattle of any value and yielding a profit as unconsiderable as their worth. "*8 



About the middle of the eighteenth century the potentialities of grass as a 

 crop were generally seized upon, with the result that a period of rapid expansion 

 took place between the years 1750 and 1790. Large areas of rough, rocky land 

 generally unsuited for tillage were cleared, seeded to grass, and made to yield a 

 most profitable crop. It was during this period that the "hill" towns, or "grazing" 

 towns, as they were frequently called, in central and western Massachusetts were 

 cleared and settled. Some indication of the rapidity with which this movement 

 proceeded is found in the writings of a French traveler describing what he saw 

 in western Connecticut in 1780: "I have never traveled three miles without 

 meeting with a new settlement, either beginning to take form or already in culti- 

 vation"; whereas, he continues, "four years ago, one might have traveled ten 

 miles in the woods I traversed without seeing a single habitation. "^^ By 1800 

 Timothy Dwight had enthusiastically written, "Grass is undoubtedly the most 

 valuable object of culture in New England. Grass grows spontaneously even 

 on the driest grounds and luxuriantly on others."™ Concerning the County of 

 Worcester, he wrote, "Excellent neat cattle abound . . . and beef is perhaps 

 nowheres better fattened upon grass. Swine also abound here. . . . Sheep are 

 not very numerous. . . . Horses abound in every part of New England. "51 

 Speaking of the soils in western Massachusetts, he wrote that they "are generally 

 fertile; and, particularly, are excellent grazing grounds. "52 



This period of pasture expansion is important because it was at this time 

 that most of the permanent pasture area now found in Massachusetts was laid 

 down. Some new lands were cleared after 1790 and the total area in pasture 

 did not reach its maximum until 1875, but most of the land added to the total 

 pasture acreage after 1790 was made up of hayland and cropland which was 

 converted into pasture. 



The various means by which much of this huge area (over a million acres) 

 was cleared and seeded to grass can best be described by quoting direct from a 

 current historian of the time. Jeremy Belknap, in his "History of New Hamp- 

 shire" in 1792, gives clear and detailed description of how this was accomplished. 



Several ways of raising a crop on new land have been practiced. The 

 easiest and cheapest method was originally learned of the Indians, who 

 never looked very far forward in their improvements. The method is 

 that of girdling the trees; which is done by making circular incision through 

 the bark, and leaving them to die standing. This operation is performed 

 in the summer, and the ground is sowed in August, with winter rye inter- 

 mixed with grass. The next year, the trees do not put forth leaves, and 

 the land having yield a crop, becomes fit for pasture. This method helps 

 poor settlers a little the first year; but the inconvenience of it is, that if the 

 trees are left standing, they are continually breaking and falling with the 

 wind, which endangers the lives of cattle. . . . The more able sort of 

 husbandmen, therefore, choose the method of clearing the land at first, 

 by cutting down all the trees without exception. The most eligible time 

 for the operation, is the month of June, when the sap is flowing, and the 

 leaves are formed on the trees. These leaves will not drop from the fallen 

 trees, but remain till the next year, when, being dry, they help to spread 

 the fire, which is then set to the trees. This is done in the first dry weather 

 of the succeeding spring, and generally in May; but if the ground be too 

 dry, the fire will burn deep, and greatly injure the soil. There is therefore 

 need of judgment to determine when the wood is dry enough to burn, and 



^^American Husbandry, p. 250. 



^^Bidwell and Falconer, History of Agriculture, p. 77. 



SOTravels. I, 48. 



Sllbid.. p. 376. 



52lbid.. II, 267. 



