146 
RURAL HOURS. 
borhood unfolding before one, follow ing upon the farms in sight 
these progressive steps in cultivation. 
The pine stumps are probably the only mark of a new country 
which would be observed by a stranger. With us, they take the 
place of rocks, which are not common ; they keep possession of 
the ground a long while — some of those about us are known to 
have stood more than si.xty years, or from the first settlement of 
the country, and how much longer they will last, time alone can 
tell. In the first years of cultivation, they are a very great blem- 
ish, but after a while, when most of them have been bmmt or 
uprooted, a gray stump here and there, among the grass of a 
smooth field, does not look so very much amiss, reminding one, 
as it does, of the brief history of the country. Possibly there 
may be something of partiality in this opinion, just as some lovers 
have been found to admire a freckled face, because the rosy 
cheek of their sweetheart was mottled Avith brown freckles ; peo- 
ple generally may not take the same vieAv of the matter, they 
may think that even the single stump had better be uprooted. 
Several ingenious machines have been invented for erettinjr rid 
oi these enemies, and they have already done good sendee in the 
county. Some of them work by levers, others by Avheels ; they 
usually require three or four men and a yoke of oxen, or a horse, 
to work them, and it is really surprising Avhat large stumps are 
draAvn out of the earth by these contrivances, the strongest roots 
cracking and snapping like threads. Some digging about the 
stump is often necessary as a preliminary step, to enable the 
chain to be fastened securely, and occasionally the axe is used 
to relieve the machine ; still, they work so expeditiously, that con- 
tracts are taken to clear lands in this way, at the rate of twenty 
