The Placer herald., 1867-03-23
Brazilian Farming.

prove on il. The process Of clearing land
for instance, in Brazil. is unique, and as it is
the universal custom, will describe it, as
have seen it thoroughly demonstrated under
my own eye, and adopted by my own coun
trymen. The Brazilian forest, whether vir
gin timber Of the secondary growth, where
squatters have once cleared up little patches
and allowed them again to fall back into a
state Of nature, are full Of vines and under
brush in most places. 1f,his growth was like
the oak aud other hard brush Of Misourri il
would be formidable job to cut it down
But it is all like succulent weeds, forced to
an extraordinary size by the showers and
the sun Of perpetual spring. Even cotton
and the castor'oil plant, and, 10 some extent,
totscco and red peppers assume these pro-
portion, when undislurbed. Now, into this
forest a Brazilian will walk with bis espudo,
a big knife, which is a cross between a sword
and an Arkansas toothpick and with all the
motion of a fencing master, and with some
not known in that science, but which he
learns from his father and from practice he
hews everything down not larger than his
arm or bis leg, with the ease that boy
hack down mullen stalks. ! remember an
Irish gentleman, in my younger days, who
used TO excite the ridicule Of the ncighbor-
hood by chopping his stove wood with a
carving knife. He was school'master, and
taught the young ideas how to shoot" but
he might learn lessons in Brazil which am
sure he never read of. The Brazilian sashes
over bis head, and beneath his feet, and on
each side, and before him, and the whole
tangled mass is soon like even moved hay
covering the whole surface Of the ground
lie then passes over the same field with An
AK, telling the larger timber, except perhaps
some precious woods, and chopping all the
branches level. An expert hand will clear
an acre day, and chops over, and thus COM
tinue the process as long as time or inclina.
tion suits, or until be has farm enough open
for the small requirements of himself and
family. He then waits two or three weeks
till the whole mass is dry, when he takes
some favorable day and wind, and fires it to
the windward, and the flames soon cover
over the whole surface Kissing and cracking
like western prairie on fire. consuming
every dry thing and every weed. and every
ant, or any other bichos or wild varments"
that may be nesting there. The ground is
then ready to receive bis crop. lie does
not have to "log roll" and labor on the
trunks and stumps which remain, for the
ground needs no blowing, and the logs and
stumps will all rot out in two or three
years, manuring the soil in the meantime.
lie plants mandioc, or beams, or corn, or po-
tatoes; and of late years, has learned to plant
coffee trees on the same ground, thus sup
porting bis family till the coffee trees are
large enough TO bear, and crowd out other
vegetation. Weeds will not come on good
burn for year or two, thus giving him sew.
eral crops without labor; and when the
weeds do come on, if he is one Of the rowing
sort, who do not have patience to wait for
coffee, he will make another clearing as be-
fore, rather than keep the weeds down. This
accounts for great many abandoned places,
which are not impoverished like the old
fields Of Virginia, but too rank with teeming
weeds and soil for the ''old fogies" of Brazil.
They consider it easier work TO clear the vr.
gin forests than to cultivate the ground af'
terward-a hint which has recol ciled me
very much to the timbered country, which
is SO much easier cleared than anything that
have ever seen in the backwoods. As to
tools the espaaa is superior to anything ever
seen invented; and an agricultural friend
who brought out brush hooks and other con
trvances has thrown them all aside. He
even found the Collins ak less serviceabIe
than peculiarly shaped native one-resem-
bling large, long handled tomabawk. Thus
we live and learn. But he insists, and so DO
l, that he will 'astonish the natives" some
Of these days, and "beat them all to death"
when he gets bis land ready for the plow.