CLEARING FARM LAND : 9 



Costs of these methods of renovating old pastures were difficult to obtain 

 because farm equipment and farm labor were used in slack seasons. The cash 

 expense for operating machiner}', for wages of hired labor, and for seed, fertilizer, 

 and lime ranged from $35 to $60 per acre for improving old pastures that had 

 reverted to shrubs and bushes. The grazing capacity of such pastures varied 

 with the type of soil, amount of fertilization, moisture available, and the mixture 

 of grasses and legumes seeded. It is important to seed the combination of grasses 

 and clovers adapted to soil and moisture conditions of the reclaimed land. 



A considerable area of abandoned crop and hay land which had reverted to 

 blueberries, shrubs, and bushes has been reclaimed in recent years for potato 

 production, especiallj' in the Berkshire Hills region. Brush and bushes were cut 

 or pulled out and the smaller growth was plowed under with heavy brush-breaker 

 plows and crawler-type tractors. In some fields the cover was light and potatoes 

 were grown the same season, or the next season in the case of fall plowing. In 

 some cases the land was harrowed several times the following season to kill 

 sprouts before a crop of potatoes could be grown. Stones and roots were picked 

 to facilitate the use of machinery in potato growing. Cash costs of reclaiming 

 this land were relatively low — from $15 to $30 per acre. 



Figure 4. 

 Hilltop Potato Field after Brush and Shrubs Were Cleared from Former Hay Land. 



Removing Stumps 



Clearing of stumpland for pasture and crops increased after the 1938 hurricane 

 when many stands of pine trees were blown over. The use of bulldozers and gas 

 shovels for this work had become common by 1944 and heavy equipment had 

 been used to remove stumps on several farms as early as 1940. Costs were high 

 in these early years because efficient methods of removal and disposal of stumps 

 had not been learned. In one instance a gas shovel was used to lift out pine and 

 oak stumps and pile them in windrows for burning at a total cost of $160 per 

 acre. These stumps were too green to burn and the windrows had to be broken 

 up to allow them to dry out before they could be burned. Labor, bulldozer, 



