133 

 ESSAY ON RECLAIMING ROCKY PASTURES. 



BY CHAS. W. MANN, OF METHTJEN. 



We have in Essex County, many rough and rocky pieces 

 of pasture and woodland that are within easy reach of mar- 

 kets, and when reclaimed would become very profitable 

 fields for cultivation. Many of these relics of the wilder- 

 ness are of small area, and are often so situated in the 

 midst of smiling fields, or upon the borders of fine farms, 

 as to be a much greater damage to the appearance and sell- 

 ing value of the property than what the income of the same 

 land when cleared would seem to justify, but they are such 

 an eyesore as perhaps to add two or three times the cost of 

 reclaiming to the value of their surroundings, and yet, in 

 many cases the owners are so appalled at the apparent 

 magnitude of the work of making these " rough places 

 plain, 1 ' that they put it off from year to year, until they 

 finally lose the little courage that they had at first, and 

 settle down to the idea that the works of nature had better 

 not be disturbed too much, especially when it calls for 

 money and hard work to accomplish the object desired. 



In many places that are within three miles of some lively 

 village or growing city, the stone removed from these rough 

 pieces of pasture land can be sold and teamed for the build- 

 ing of house cellars, bank walls, and other similar uses, 

 while, if the stones are large and heavy, they may be used 

 in the building of bridges and the laying of heavy foun- 

 dations for large blocks or factories, and the price is gen- 

 erally from seventy-five cents a perch for the poorest qual- 

 ity, to $1.50 for the large and heavy stone, of good shape, 

 for building purposes, the average price in our county being 

 probably from $1 to $1.25 a perch, for stone suitable for 

 ordinary house cellars. A perch of stone is, exactly 

 measured, 24| cubic feet, but is generally reckoned as 25 

 cubic feet, and will weigh, in squared granite, or large, 

 solid stone, about two tons^while the ordinary stone as dug 

 from the ground and laid up, will weigh about 1£ tons to 



