88 BOAED OF AGEICULTURE. 



ing it into cultivation, nor into pasture, the better way un- 

 doubtedly is to let the cut brush and tops lie and decay on 

 the lot, carefully excluding cattle or sheep ; but if it is to be 

 brought into pasture or restored to cultivation, and the brush 

 is to be burned, the better and safer way is to lay the brush 

 into windrows when cut, as is done by experienced choppers 

 who understand their business. It is more convenient for 

 them in o-ettino: about their work in handlins; the wood, and 

 also very decidedly so for those who in sledding or in cart- 

 ing have to clear the wood from the lot. Timber should be 

 cut during the fall of the sap, the rising of which softens the 

 wood, which, if felled when full of sap, is apt to split and 

 check in seasoning. 



Probably the best time to cut wood as well as timber is in 

 the fall and winter of the year, from September to January, 

 and the worst time from February to June. A white maple 

 cut in October and left in the log will be sound and bright 

 the next fall, while the same, or a birch or white pine, cut 

 in March, will be discolored and half rotted by August. 

 In the care of a wood lot something may perhaps be done 

 toward helping the rapid and strong growth by a little judi- 

 cious thinning and trimming while the trees are still very 

 young, though even that is questionable. 



I have no doubt that it would pay to carefully trim a 

 thicket of young white pines, beginning early enough to 

 check the spreading habit, and to induce the tree to grow up 

 straight and tall without leaving any black knots in the 

 young tree ; and when they are very thick — as they often 

 are — I believe some thinning out would be advantageous. 



Firewood. — There is often a great want of economy in 

 the cutting, preparing and burning wood for domestic pur- 

 poses. The fuel value of all the known woods of the coun- 

 try is given with great particularity in Prof. Charles S. Sar- 

 gent's elaborate report, made for the census of 1880 ; but for 

 our purpose we need take but three or four, and it is near 

 enough for comparison to say, that the amounts of dry wood 

 necessary to throw out a given amount of heat were as fol- 

 lows : — Hickory, 4 cords ; white oak, 4| ; hard maple, 6| ; 

 white birch, 7 ; soft maple, 7^ ; Norway pine, 8 ; white 

 pine, 9^. It has been found that thoroughly seasoned wood 



