THE CULTIVATOR. 
Clearing and Seeding New Land. 
Messrs. Editors —In the 93d page of The Culti¬ 
vator of this year, we had your answers to queries 
proposed by “ Novice,” of Pine Grove, Ohio, and hav¬ 
ing had some experience in clearing new land, let me 
give a few thoughts on the subject; not that I expect 
to give any new light, but to do my part in circulating 
a knowledge of each other’s experience, and to call 
out light from others. 
1. If the inquiry should be the cheapest and most 
expeditious mode of bringing new land, whether bot¬ 
tom or upland, into grass for mowing or pasture, I 
should say, if the timber be large, to deaden the land 
by girdling the useless timber in June, July and Au¬ 
gust, while the sap is in full flow, and the leaves are 
out. The small stuff should then be cut down, cut up 
and thrown into as few and compact heaps as possible,- 
and burnt in September. The land may be sown to 
wheat in October, and grass in March, or the grass 
seed may pe put in with the wheat in Oct. Font be 
small and stingy about the grass seed, but put on at 
least 12 quarts of timothy and four of clover, or 16 
quarts of timothy alone ; and about the harrowing, 
whenever your neighbors say, “ bold, it is enough,” 
then go over it as thoroughly again, and you will get 
the ground into so fine a tilth, that you will get a great 
crop of grain and grass. If you undertake to cheat 
the earth at this stage of the business, it will cheat 
you. If preferred, the land may be sown in as tho¬ 
rough a manner-to oats and grass the next spring after 
girdling. Instead of oats it may be put into corn, af¬ 
ter as free a harrowing as we have before mentioned; 
and with two good hoeings, the land may be brought 
into a good clean condition to put into wheat, by cut¬ 
ting up the corn in the first of Oct., and setting it up 
around the largo stumps, or hauling it off and setting 
up along the fences—then sowing to wheat the last of 
Oct, and stocking down the next spring. This girdling 
is said by those that have tried it, to be very beneficial 
to all soils, a clay soil in particular, for the soil yields 
easier to the plow, and is far more productive than 
lands that have had all the timber taken off in a green 
state. I refer now to the first cultivation after clear¬ 
ing. Again the roots of a tree girdled and left stand¬ 
ing, will not resist the plow so long as the roots of the 
stump of a tree cut when green, by at least three 
years. 
The next summer after this girdling, even if no 
grain crop is put on, a hay crop of from one to two 
tuns per acre can be taken, if the ground in some dry 
time has been gone over with this very free harrowing 
and no cattle are allowed to run on it when the ground 
is soft One of my neighbors, an honest and experi¬ 
enced firmer, says he has obtained one-and-a half tons 
per acre the first season of sowing grass seed on such 
new land, and one of your late correspondents states 
that he has easily obtained from two to three tons per 
acre. The upland will be dry enough without ditch¬ 
ing, but bottom land is liable to be more or less wet, 
to have places of standing water, swampy boggy 
ground, sometimes filled with bushes, and a free use- 
of the spade will ditch off the'water and reclaim' much 
of such land and make it yield the better crop of any 
thing put into it. 
Now from the girdled standing timber, a sufficient 
amount may be cut down for rails, and if there is a 
good lumber, stave and fire-wood market near, the 
bodies of the remaining timber may be pretty much 
consumed for lumber, stave and cord-wood 1 . 
2. You have advanced the idea that “’to assist their 
decay, (stumps) a pile of turf or earth placed on each 
is a good thing.” I think the more you dig the ground 
away from a stump, the sooner it decays. It is well 
known that fence posts rot out first just at the surface, 
while a few inches below the post is but little consumed. 
But if you mean that turf or earth should be put on 
the top of the stump, I will agree with you, and a 
greater effect may be produced by digging out a small 
place in the center of the top of the stump, or boring 
in a few inches with an augur, then put on your sod or 
earth. After two or three years, and after a long 
dry time, the sod and earth may be removed and fire 
put in their place and into the hollow stumps, and in a 
few days and with a little feeding, these stumps may 
be consumed roots and all. 
But to go back a little; if “Novice,” or any other 
person clearing land, has time, means and inclination, 
it would perhaps be safer and better in the end to make 
good clean work as they go along. Fall the trees into 
winrows, cut and pile the limbs closely, so that fire will 
bum them up clean, when they are well seasoned. 
Now is the time to make out the cord-woodland pile 
it up between stakes, unless it is to be drawn off be¬ 
fore fires are lit on the piece. And now is the time to 
make out staves and saw out rail cuts and saw-logs. 
Whatever timber is not put to the above use, should be 
cut up fourteen fc. long for logging. The best time for 
chopping is in winter and spring, and for clearing any 
time after haying and harvesting. 
3. For three or four years, while the stumps are rot¬ 
ting out, there is probably no better purpose to which 
the land can be devoted than to the rearing of cat¬ 
tle and sheep. J. H. M. Oberlin> May 10</i, 1854. 
Breaking Colts. 
Messrs. Editors —I read an inquiry of II. N. 0. 
in the April number of yotir Cultivator. He wants a 
few hints on the subject of breaking colts. 
In breaking a colt we should never attempt too 
much at a time. I first kyeak it to lead ; then put on 
gears and lead it till it becomes accustomed to them; 
then hitch it to a sled. (I think a sled much better 
than a wagon.) It is best to have three horses and to 
work it some time to the empty sled. Teach it to 
walk in the gears at first, and it will learn to pull by 
degrees. We should always treat a colt with kindness, 
not severity, and try to make them think that we do 
not want to hurt them Care and kindness is t he prin¬ 
cipal thing. I hare broke several, and always had 
good luck and but little trouble. J. S. II. St. 
Clairsville. 
