Methods of Economizing Labour. 
115 
Let us first consider the implements made use of for clearing 
land. 
First in importance is the American axe, so well known in 
every timber region of the world, consisting of a plain, narrow, 
wedge-shaped head, with a convex edge ; inserted into which, 
at a point where the front is nearly balanced by the back, is a 
long, light handle of tough hickory, curved to fit and retain the 
grasp. 
The effect of this weapon in the hands of a backwoodsman is 
surprising : every blow is planted so true, that, when you exa- 
mine the stump of the fallen tree, you hardly suppose it has been 
felled with the axe. 
Next in order comes the stump-extractor. The instrument 
commonly used for this purpose is a compound lever, worked 
by a team of oxen. The firmest-rooted stump is made the ful- 
crum, by means of which all the surrounding ones are extracted. 
This work is usually done by contract, at an expense of 2.1. to 3Z. 
an acre, varying with the number and quality of the stumps, 
which, for a few dollars more, are drawn aside to form fences, 
and these are the most durable of all dead-wood fences. There 
■ is another machine more portable than this, consisting of an 
iron cylinder on wheels, to which horse-power is applied as to a 
capstan. Hall, of Owego, New York State, is the patentee of this 
latter. These machines are frequently used to remove wooden 
houses or outbuildings, which may by their means be readily 
transported on rollers to a considerable distance. 
Next in order in clearing land comes the root-puller, a most 
useful implement for tearing out bushes, roots, and rubbish. It 
consists simply of four or five large strong iron claws, to which 
the bullock-team is attached. 
The business of putting up the farmer's house is accomplished 
with a despatch of which we have little idea. It is usually a 
weather-board building (we read much of log-huts, but the thing 
itself is rarely seen), for the saw-mill, with steam, or water, or, 
in failure of these, horse-power, keeps pace with the advancing 
tide of population, and converts the log into boards at very trifling 
cost. The first good fall of snow forms a famous highway for 
the " lumber sleigh," and winter, which suspends operations in 
the field, is the time for clearing and building. Every part of 
the fittings or "fixings" of the house, as doors and windows, 
complete with their frames, mouldings, mantelpieces, and 
hearth-stones, cooking and parlour stoves, are furnished by the 
hardware merchant ; and all these, being made wholesale, the 
iron being all castings, and the woodwork carved by machi- 
nery, are sold at very moderate prices. The furniture, too, 
is shaped by Blanchard's turning process, whereby an immense 
I 2 
I 
