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ing his land of boulders means giving time that the farmer 

 recognizes other calls for, and especially if it means the em- 

 ployment of hired help, then the question becomes somewhat 

 complex. When time given to this work means money, on 

 many farms it would be cheaper to invest what it would cost 

 to clear land of boulders in the purchase of land already 

 cleared, the farmer showing practical wisdom under such cir- 

 cumstances in planting his boulder-covered acre to wood, 

 throwing it into pasture, or still continuing to do the best he 

 can with it, under the circumstances, as tillage. 



There is, however, a large class of farmers, whose land^ 

 either from its natural quality or in its vicinity to a market, 

 is so valuable that they are led seriously to discuss the prac- 

 ticability of removing these hereditary obstructions to their 

 progress in thrifty farming. To that class I address myself. 

 Let us examine the boulders as to their size, their number, 

 how they lie, w^iether mostly above or below the surface, for 

 digging around them is one of the serious items of cost, 

 while those deeply sunk never blast as w^ell as those near the 

 surface, and when blasted require extra work to get them out 

 of their deep beds. Again, we should regard the kind of 

 rock they are of, for the granites smash up far better than 

 the rocks into whose composition hornbleud enters. Finally, 

 the value the rock may have after removal is to be considered, 

 either to the public for building purposes, or to the farmer 

 himself. Sometimes this may come by using the rock for 

 buildins some lono: needed house or barn. Havino; had to con-' 

 sider some of these points on three of my own farms, the past 

 three years, while removing thousands of tons of boulders, I 

 will present my method of dealing with these hard headed 

 obstructionists, with what experience has taught me, always 

 ready to light my taper at the lamp of any of my fellow far- 

 mers w^hose experience may supplement my own. The man 

 with some patent lever will be apt to come along about the 

 time you begin to start your boulders ; a something to lift 

 the boulder from its bed after a couple of stout hooks are 

 fastened to it by holes an inch or so deep drilled into the 



