BURNING OVER THE SOIL FOR CULTIVATION. 165 



CHAPTER VI. 



BURNING OVER THE SOIL FOR CULTIVATION. 



There does not exist any mode of cultivating the 

 soil which the agriculturist despises more than that 

 which is done by burning over the surface ground. And 

 yet there is no means by which the natural or wild 

 moors may be brought into the proper condition for 

 growing upon them forest-trees more cheaply and 

 quickly than just this primitive operation. We, there- 

 fore, may be permitted to treat upon this subject a little 

 more extensively. 



After the moor has been sufficiently drained, beds 

 about fifty feet wide are laid out and enclosed with 

 ditches twelve inches deep. In the fall or early winter, 

 preceding the burning, the rugged surface soil is broken 

 up with a hand hoe, the iron of which should be 

 tapering and curved on the inside. By this action the 

 peaty tufts become inverted and the top soil assumes a 

 pretty even form. During the ensuing winter the frost 

 acts upon the clods making them more friable. In 

 the next spring the work of hoeing over the surface is 

 repeated for the effect of pulverizing the clods thor- 

 oughly, and of making the top on the lower parts of the 

 moor as even as possible, whereby the laborers are in- 

 structed to work the soil so as to make a little ridge in 

 the middle of the beds in order that the atmospheric 

 moistures may flow off more quickly. Thereupon the 

 moor is allowed to rest several weeks till the surface has 

 become thoroughly dry. After this the ground is often 

 worked with a hand harrow — for working with farm 

 animals would be impossible upon such a light and 

 spongy soil — till the top becomes fully dried to the 



