TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
New Series, 
ALBANY, JUNE, 1849. 
Vol. VI.—No. 6. 
^trbortctilhire. 
Cultivation and Preservation of “Wood-Lots. 95 
Editors of the Cultivator — I can stand it no long¬ 
er. The inconsiderate clearing of’ the wood-lands of 
New England by our fathers, without regard to the se¬ 
lection of those lands suitable for arable and grazing- 
pur poses,—finds an apology in the fact that forests, ge¬ 
nerally, were an incumbrance to them. The greater 
thoughtlessness and improvidence of their sons, howev¬ 
er, in still persisting in the practice, while we have 
more lands already cleared than a proper and profitable 
husbandry is bestowed upon, is, to me, a painful and 
surprising matter. Besides being ruinous to the pre¬ 
sent owner, it is a perfect “ devil take the hind-most” 
policy for the sons. Go where we will, we are compel¬ 
led to look upon rough inaccessible lands and tops and 
acclivities of hills, which have been swept of their na¬ 
tural covering and fertility, and turned into pastures af¬ 
fording but scanty returns for the hard labor of the ani¬ 
mals attempting a subsistence thereon, and still small¬ 
er returns to the proprietor. There is scarcely a farm 
in this section but has acres of this kind of land that 
would have been worth five times, yes, in many cases, 
ten times as much as they now are, had a second 
growth of wood been permitted to run up on them. 
The operation of clearing and burning a large tract 
of hill-side, woodland has been going on within my ob¬ 
servation for a few } r ears past. It has been of the ge¬ 
nuine, old-fashioned sort. A large piece is chopped 
over, each winter, and the wood and timber marketed. 
The next August, a heavy fire burns up the vegetable 
mould on and near the surface, and the ashes left, ope¬ 
rating as a powerful and unnatural stimulus on so light 
a soil, only cause it to give up its organic matter, its 
fertility, the more speedily. Rye is sown, and yields so 
fine a crop that another of the same kind is put in the 
next fall, and possibly a light sprinkling of grass-seed 
with it. At the end of five years, the land is so far 
exhausted, that five acres will not keep an old sheep 
alive, through the summer. Then again, a valuable 
tillage-field, which has had the protection of this wood 
from bleak winds, is now exposed to every northern 
blast, which, in this climate, is a serious consideration. 
Had the inconsiderate owner just taken off his wood, 
and u therewith been content,” leaving his hill-side to 
be covered with another growth of trees, he could have 
sold it to-day, if he wished, for twice what it will now 
bring. 
Ten years ago, I cut the wood off a long stretch of 
side-hill, and in my inexperience, burnt over a portion 
of it for pasturage. The remainder was left to grow 
up again to wood. Many of the young trees are 6 to 
8 inches through ; they are all very straight and thrifty, 
and I value one acre of this land more l;han five acres 
of that which is in pasture. I shall not again perma¬ 
nently clear up my steep hill-sides. 
At the solicitation of a railroad friend, a short time 
since, I accompanied him into the country directly south 
of this, to examine and estimate the value of some 
“wood-lots.” I was forcibly struck with the amount of 
rugged, barren land, inaccessible for agricultural pur¬ 
poses, which had been thrown into open country, even 
by the present owners. Had a second growth of wood 
been permitted to run up on the land, instead of subject¬ 
ing it to the burning and cropping process, it would 
have been now worth far more to the owners,-—for a 
railroad is tapping that country, with its large and 
clamorous demands for wood and timber. Riding along 
with an old inhabitant of one of the towns visited, he 
pointed out a wood-lot which was cut over twenty 
years since, and suffered to grow up again to wood, con¬ 
trary to the usual custom. It was sold at auction, a 
short time since, for $3,400. It would not have brought 
over $800, had it been in pasture from the time it was 
cleared. 
Warm hill-sides, having an eastern or southern slope, 
send up a second growth of wood with great rapidity. 
Although they may not eventually, support so heavy a 
growth as strong level land, they will yet produce all 
the wood they are capable of sustaining, much sooner. 
A friend directed my attention the other day, to a tract 
of land, with an eastern slope, in a neighboring town, 
which was cleared of an original growth of wood, 25 
years ago, and left to itself to produce another growth 
from the sprout. The land, with its present standing 
wood, was appraised a year or two since, at $50 an 
acre. Ten dollars an acre, is all that similar land, in 
pasture, in that vicinity, has ever been worth. By the 
application of a little arithmetic then, we find that the 
increase of this second growth of wood has been equal 
to 16 per cent, interest, per annum, on the worth of the 
land, without a dollar’s expense for the cultivation,—• 
that is, $10, at 16 per cent, simple interest, for 25 
years, amounts to $40; to which add the principal, the 
worth of the land, and we have $50, the appraised pre¬ 
sent value per acre. 
Take another view. The importance of a due pro¬ 
portion of wood in equalising moisture, and preserving 
the constancy of our small springs and brooks, as well 
as restraining, in a great measure, the sudden rise and 
overflow of our rivers, is well known to observing men. 
Several fine springs and little brooks, which were fami¬ 
liar friends in boyhood, have either entirely disappeared, 
or are only seen for a season in the spring. 
<l In wet seasons, the decayed leaves and spongy soil 
of wood lands retain a large proportion of the falling 
rains, and give back the moisture in time of drouth, by 
evaporation, or through the medium of springs. They 
thus both check the sudden flow of water from the sur¬ 
face into the streams and low grounds, and prevent the 
drouths of summer from parching our pastures and dry¬ 
ing up the rivulets which water them. On the other 
hand, where too large a proportion of the surface ia 
bared of wood, the action of the summer sun and wind 
