The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-05-16
REclAlMlNe NEW LAND.
A Laborious and Sometimes Very Difficult
Work.

Few farms are entirely -under culIi-
walton by their owners. Not infre-
quently che land lying in disuse is the
most fertile part of the farm, and will
repay for retaining. Yet little of this
important work is done, compared
with what should be accomplished.
The work of clearing up land COM
prised the most of farming in the early
settlement of the country. 1t was
severe work, and the pioneers had
probably surfeit of this employment.
To their successors clearing up new
land has perhaps seemed more labo-
rious than it really is. There is also
prevalent idea that the land which was
not thought valuable for cultivation
years ago is not likely to prove so now.
In some cases this is true. Steep hill
sides, if cleared of their original
forests, should only be cleared for the
purpose of replanting with more valu-
able kinds of timber. There are prob
ably also many places where land is OF
little value, and can be more profitably
used for growing timber than for any
thing else.
Some of the land however, that the
early settlers rejected as worthless IS
now most valuable. In heavily wood
cd districts their great horror was sur
plus of water. They could not under
drain on account of tree roots. In the
original forests water evaporated so
slowly that the wet land appeared much
wetter than it has since proved to be.
Our low lands, when drained and re-
claimed, are more valuable than any
other tracts. 1t is very possible, when
we take to timber-growing, that we
shall cover the hill-tops with trees, and
put our houses, orchards, and cultiva-
ted fields ON the lower lands, which
will then be sheltered from the fierce
storms that often prevail. In these
cold, winter days we are tempted to
think that the early settlers made a
mistake in clearing all the hillsides. 1t
was not mistake for their times, how
ever; and if we find it an evil, it is one
which we can easily remedy. I'm
doubleday our low, timbered lands are
naturally more fertile than the uplands.
In this respect those localities are for
tunate where the earliest clearings were
Ou uiRH AOI ~ 1ObFOo No
better land to work up now.
1t must be confessed, however, that
the ilrst one or two years experience
in working this new land is often dis
appointing. The large crops our faith
ers reported from the stump lots newly
burned over are not commonly secured
on new land at the present time. We
do not burn it over as they did, and,
being wetter, it needs understanding
and the action of light and frost to put
it into tillable condition. This is a
slower process than the old plan OF
burning the cleared land so severely
that nearly one-half its vegetable mat
ter is left in the form of ashes on the
surface. We can not afford to burn
trunks of trees, as the early settlers
did, merely for the sake of getting them
out of the way. Nor can we expect
that our new land, with all its timber
sold off, will equal the virgin fertility
of forest land, where all the original
growth was returned to the soil in
ashes.
We have some other difficulties. Our
timber lots are harder to clear off than
the original heavy forests. 1t is all
partially cleared now, the more valu-
able timber having generally been
already sold. What trees are left are
knotted and gnarled by the fierce
storms that have swept against them
in the partial clearings. But to Offset
this, by the use of dynamite we can
clear out stumps in few hours which
our fathers had to pillow around for
years until they slowly rotted away.
Stones can also be cleared off by the
same means, though where large
powders fill the soil it is usully best to
leave the land 10 be occupied by tim
Der rather than try to reclaim it for
cultivation.
The most satisfactory reclamation Of
land is of low, marshy soils near large
cities, where they can be used fol-
market gardening. The thorough un-
derdraining of marsh, when it is pro-
posed to convert it into good land, il
always expensive; but when done the
land is of the best, and the improve
ment is one of a permanent character
This kind of marsh land can often b,
purchased very cheaply, Rated by it
present productive value it is wortl
little or nothing. Make it dry land, ant
it increases the value of all the propert,
in its vicinity. The business of garden
ing and furnishing milk for. the cit,
market may sometimes be advantage
ously combined on such land, and eacl
branch of business will supplement tn
other. In this way young men wit
skill and energy, but with very it'll
capital, are sometimes able to max
good homes for themselves, after yer
few years, from what was originally n
garded as almost worthless territory.
In considering the value of raw lane
its nearness to villages, cities, and
market is necessarily an important ia,
tor. Land is very plenty in this couI
try, and the fact that Western ne
lands are so easily got into cultivatio
has probably retarded the improvement
of our more difficult fields of bo,
morass, or timber. Butw are steadi
reaching toward better tillage ever
where. The area of virgin soil
steadily decreasing, and even new raj
roads can not open new fields as tn,
have done heretofore. twill, perhap
be loss to some improvident farme
when we can no longer easily get ne
land to exhaust; but it will certainly
gain to the country when our Peep