The "corn harvest," Thomas informs us, "is ended 
before the middle of July, and most years they have com- 
monly between twenty and thirty bushels of wheat, for every 
one they sow. Their ground is harrowed with wooden tyned 
harrows, twice over in a place is sufficient, twice mending 
of their plow-irons in a year's time will serve. Their horses 
commonly go without being shod. Two men may clear 
between twenty and thirty acres of land in one year, fit for 
the plough, in which oxen are chiefly used, though horses are 
not wanting, and all of them good and well shaped. A cart 
or a wain may go through the middle of the woods, between 
the trees without getting any damage, and of such land in 
a convenient place, the purchase will cost between ten and 
fifteen pounds for a hundred acres." 
So the account proceeds, and if exaggerated, it gives us 
an insight into the daily doings of the settlers, which we 
could ill afford to lose. Although not so stated, the common 
method of clearing the wooded land was by "girdling" or 
"belting." This consisted in chopping entirely around the 
tree trunk to a depth beneath the alburnum, a groove 
three or four inches wide, and the dead tree resulting, in 
from 8 to 10 years usually fell, when the wood and roots 
were removed, with a minimum amount of expense and 
labor. 
The next observer to record, was Daniel Falckner, who 
in "Curieuse Nachricht from Pennsylvania" published first 
in 1702, and as translated by Dr. Julius F. Sachse, states: 
"The country produces all kinds of cereals similar to what 
different kinds, and similar beans, and peas. Possibly rice 
may also be cultivated. Peas, kitchen vegetables, pumpkins, 
melons, roots, hemp, flax, hops, and all sorts of garden 
produce flourish, and recompense such as cultivate them 
richly for their labor. Domesticated fruit matures quickly, 
so that the husbandman can enjoy the fruit therefrom within 
seven years. Peaches and cherries are plentiful here and 
increase spontaneously like weeds. Of fruit trees we have 
we have here, (Europe), together with Indian corn of 
