6o Our Farming. 



was finished they still were fastened under the centre. Next, 

 when a very cold, windy day came, we drew the small stumps 

 and roots up around these large ones and burned in under them 

 all we could. We did this some days when it was down near 

 zero. When a number were ready I would get a team, and by 

 twisting and chopping we would work them out, using a strong 

 lever and chain for twisting, and hitching the team to it. Some- 

 times Fred would cut them clear off beforehand. Now, I tell 

 you this was solid, hard chopping. I think we wore out two or 

 three axes, nearly all on the lower point, of course. There were 

 a few of the worst stumps that it took Fred a day or more to 

 conquer. It is possible that now these might be blown out with 

 some explosive cheaper ; but I am not certain. They were very 

 large, bad stumps. And where I have seen stumps blown out, 

 there was such a great hole made and so many more roots brought 

 out to handle. When we got a stump out it took but a short 

 time to shovel the earth back and much of the weight of the 

 stump was left in the ground, too low down to do harm, and 

 these roots as they rot will do actual good in the way of drainage. 

 At any rate, this is the way we got them out. The earth was 

 cleared away from stumps in open weather, so we had plenty to 

 chop when it was cold and frozen too hard to dig. I .say "we," 

 but my man, Fred Ross, handled the axe mostly. I never could 

 have done it. But I engineered it. I have never been able to do 

 long-continued, heavy work myself. Well, we got every stump 

 out, a good many hundred of them. In the spring we cleared up 

 the field, picking up roots and chips, load after load of them. 

 My wife and little girls worked there day after day, for we all 

 pulled together to carry the thing through. There was more 

 than the mere dollars in it, too, you see. It was a question of 

 whether my judgment was better than that of some old neigh- 

 bors' whether I was a "town farmer," or had a level head. 

 I was going entirely contrary to public opinion, putting money 

 into improving my farm, or my work either, for that matter. One 

 good neighbor told my man, when he went by, that I was entirely 

 crazy, that I wouldn't get my pay for that job in twenty-five 

 years, and actually worked on my man's feelings so that he came 

 to me and said he did not want to stay and do the work if I was 

 agoing to lose by it, and was doing it just to give him something 

 to do (the honest fellow) . I told him to goon. He would get 

 his pay, and I thought I knew what I was about ; and I believe, 

 friends, he enjoyed the final triumph just as much as I did. One 

 neighbor, when passing and seeing the great stumps standing 

 around after they were out, says to my man : ' ' What are you going 

 to do with them after you get them out? " Quicker than a flash, 

 my man replied, ' ( Eat them what do you suppose ? ' ' You will 

 now have an idea of the general feeling on the subject. By the 

 way, the friend who said I would not get my pay in twenty-five 



