Clearing of Trees, Stumps and Stones. 61 



years was the one who told me not to hire any help regularly 

 when I began. Then his advice was sound. At this time, 

 however, I was getting into shape to employ labor to advantage, 

 like other business men. 



Well, the first crop put in was Hungarian grass; of course, 

 it was roughly done, but we got 20 tons of nice hay (not a full 

 -crop), which, fed out in the barn, brought us that winter $200. 

 In the fall, after the Hungarian was off, we sowed wheat, and the 

 10 acres yielded 380 bushels. It was sold at the mill in Akron 

 for $1.50 a bushel, which, with the straw (an immense growth 

 fed out in the barn, at about $4 a ton), brought us the nice little 

 sum of about $650. Then came our turn to laugh. The clear net 

 profit on that wheat crop, after taking out the cost of all labor 

 and seed, and allowing $5 an acre for fertility removed from the 

 soil, which is excessive, and $6 an acre for use of land, which was 

 also high, and $2 an acre for drawing to Akron; the clear net 

 profit, after taking all this out, was $357. Did it pay to spend 

 $200 to clear that land? I got the $200 back on that one crop, 

 and $157 besides, while the land that would hardly pay 6 per 

 cent, interest on a valuation of $40 an acre, by spending $30 an 

 acre on it (part in underdraining) paid this year in wheat a net 5 1 

 per cent, on a valuation of $70 (old valuation and cost of clearing 

 and underdraining added). As nearly as I could figure, the 

 actual cost to me of grubbing those stumps alone was $12 an 

 acre, but, with the picking up and burning and team work, etc., 

 the entire cost was about $20 an acre. 



By the way, a man came along when we were beginning the 

 job, and wanted to pull the stumps with a machine, at $8 an acre, 

 I think. I told him he might try. He brought one of the lever 

 machines that were in use at that time, which, it was said, would 

 pull anything. He put on two teams, and then could not pull 

 the worst stumps, and when he did get one out it left an awful 

 hole. He managed to pull the machine, which originally cost 

 some $500, all to pieces, without making much show with the 

 stumps. Still, I have seen good work done with the same tool 

 on land where tree roots spread out over the surface more. Ours 

 mostly ran down deeply. 



We have got a good deal of money from that 10 acres since 

 clearing it. It was a wise move for us, and done at just the right 

 time. I think before this time we had got every stump out of the 

 old cleared land, and there were a host of them. But they were 

 so old that it was not a serious job to tip them over. Here the 

 stump machine would have done nicely, if we had had it. When 

 thus clearing up the land ready for tillage, I left here and there a 

 tree for looks and shade. But, in after years, I saw that this was 

 unbusinesslike, and every last one of them was taken out of the 

 35 acres we cultivate. They would look well, I will admit, as far 

 as the landscape is concerned, but they were weeds, and big ones, 



