358 
Tlie Grubbing up of Woods. 
the whole wood, viz., 8/. lOs., as the surplus per acre after tlie 
payment of all expenses. 
The account would then stand thus : — „ , 
i s. a. 
Value of laiiil for tilla2;e per ncre 15 0 
Interest of surpUis of 10s. per acre, at 3tj per cent. 0 6 0 
1 11 0 
Vahie of land remaining in wood 070 
Increased value by grubbing per acre £14 0 
The prices here given, both for work done and produce sold, 
are the actual prices paid and received during late years. 
At the present moment the wages of day-labourers have risen 
in this district to 15s. per week, and up to 16s. 6rf. for the short 
days of winter ; the cost of stubbing has risen also from 6/. 13s. to 
9/. per acre. 
At the same time the value of the produce from the land 
cleared has increased in a far greater ratio. If the expense of 
grubbing the wood has increased nearly one-third, the value of the 
wheat-crop, the result of grubbing, has increased nearly one-half. 
Besides the improved value given to the land there are colla- 
teral advantages which must not be overlooked — the benefit to the 
adjoining land from the removal of the heavy shade of the wood 
and the constant dampness which hangs about it, from the ad- 
mission of the sun, and the free circulation of air, can hardly be 
over-estimated. The wood which I have removed lay in a long 
and narrow line along the south border of the estate, and cast its 
shade over a large extent of arable land. The benefit to this land 
is not less than from 8s. to 10s. per acre. It has already quite 
altered in its appearance, and has become very useful and produc- 
tive, while before it could hardly be cultivated with profit. It 
should be added that the fresh-grubbed land will yield a course 
of corn crops without manure, and a second course with the aid 
of 2 cwt. of guano per acre — a return which, with prices far below 
those now prevailing, is equal to the fee-simple value of the land.* 
These examples are not proposed as being of universal appli- 
cation. The conditions would vary in every district, and the ne- 
cessary allowances would have to be made. They are offered as 
a correct account of what has been done on this estate, and in 
this vicinity. x t-» 
J. Evelyn Denison. 
Ossingtoi, Newark, Notts, 
Nov. 1855. 
* My crops of wheat on this land are yielding from 4 to 4^ quarters of saleable 
wheat per acre in this season of rather indifferent yield, equal in value to Idl. and 
18L ; and these sums may be considered almost as clear profit, the straw and the 
light corn defraying the expenses of simple cultivation. Thus the contrast is 
16/. or 18/., the value of wheat, against 7s., the value of wood. 
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