CLEARING LAND, BUILDING, FENCING. 29 



get the whole mass packed as close as possible. Bushmen 

 follow the same plan. The stuff is allowed to lie until it is 

 perfectly dry. This brings us into November, at which time 

 the weather is usually dry ; when in that state, the mass is 

 fired, and when the packing has been sufficiently close the 

 fire clears off all except the trunks of the big trees. These 

 are then rolled together and burnt, and garden stuff, for 

 home use, corn, potatoes, or sugar-cane, or other crops 

 can be planted at once, right in the ashes. As much 

 as 110 bushels of corn per acre have been got in this way. 



Ringing, or Ring-barking rees. Trees are killed 

 without falling them, by cutting a deep ring through the 

 bark into the solid wood all round. 

 The operation has proved beneficial in 

 cases. If grass is the only object in 

 view, and the land is at all liable to 

 visitations of frost, then some of the 

 timber, say from twenty to thirty trees 

 to the acre, should be left alive for 

 shade and shelter to stock. All the 



1 , , 



young saplings, should be grubbed out, 



for they do more to prevent grass 

 from growing than the larger and deeper rooting trees. 

 One of the annoyance of ringing is the danger from and the 

 getting rid of bark, branches, and timber as they fall. 

 On moderately timbered land that has been ring-barked, 

 eight, ten, or more years elapse ere all this dead stuff is got 

 rid of, and in every case it is desirable to calculate whether 

 it would not be cheaper to cut down and burn the timber 

 at once, rather than ringbark. 



Falling Timber. The autumn is the best time to fell 

 timber for building, or for posts, rails, vine stakes or other 

 purposes. At that season the wood is at maturity, and 

 there is less free sap and soft matter in it than there is 

 at any other season of the year. In timber fallen and 

 split up in autumn, the seasoning process is much more 

 gradual and perfect, because the weather is cooler, and the 

 grain of the timber contracts more equally and uniformly. 

 Fencing stuff made from almost any of the hardwood 



