DAKUEN LAND. 



pieces r.xtrcinely (•onvonioiit fur use. 

 A very powerful \v('l1i,'o for tliis pur- 

 pose is an iron cylinder cut through 

 the axis into two pieces, between 

 which a thin iron or steel wedge is 

 inserted ; a hole is bored in the stone 

 of a diameter equal to that of the 

 cylinder, and when this cylinder and 

 wedge are put into it, the wedge is 

 driven in with repeated smart strokes 

 of a hammer. Several such wedges, 

 placed in a line, will split large mass- 

 es of the hardest granite, and, next to 

 gunpowder, are the most efficacious 

 instruments for that purpose. Trees 



must be grubbed up by the roots ; and 

 it saves labour to cut the roots below 

 the ground while the tree is standing, 

 and draw the tree over by means of 

 ropes fixed to the top ; the stem be- 

 comes a lever, by which the roots 

 are more easily drawn out. Useless 

 shrubs are readily cut down, and 

 serve for fuel ; their roots are seldom 

 difficult to grub up ; a simple and 

 powerful instrument for this purpose 

 is a very strong iron three-pronged 

 fork, having the prongs twenty inches 

 long, and a strong ashen handle, 

 twenty feet long, fixed firmly into it, 





to the end of which a rope is fasten- 

 ed ; this is driven obliquely under the 

 roots, and, by means of a log as a 

 fulcrum, it forms a lever when pulled 

 down by the ropes. 



There are two methods by which 

 the heath and grass of the surface 

 may be got rid of : by mowing them 

 close to the ground and ploughing in 

 the roots, or by paring the surface 

 and burning it. Each mode has had 

 its strenuous advocates, and has been 

 alternately praised and reprobated. 

 A little consideration will soon settle 

 this point. If the soil consists of clay 

 or loam containing the yellow ore of 

 iron, and if the ashes, after the sods 

 have been burned in heaps, are of a 

 72 



bright red colour, the efl'ect of burn- 

 ing the surface will be generally ad- 

 vantageous, even where the soil is 

 already deficient in vegetable matter ; 

 for the fire will do more good in cor- 

 recting the crude qualities of the soil 

 than the small quantity of vegetable 

 matter which is dispersed would have 

 done had it been decomposed in the 

 most favourable manner ; and the 

 tough roots which are reduced to 

 ashes would have taken a very long 

 time to decay, and would have been 

 a constant impediment to the plough. 

 But if the soil is a sharp sand, and 

 the ashes are white and loose, burn- 

 ing destroys the small portion of ve- 

 getable matter in the soil, without 



