Charlevoix county herald., 1914-06-06
Sam At The Sand Farm

room for few brief moments, while
the Sand Farmer read the Twenty
third Psalm:
"The Lord is my shepherd; shall
not want He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures. He leadeth me be-
side the still waters, etc" And then
as they all knealt, and the children's
voices were heard one after another:
please, God, help me to be a good
boy today" they all closed by repeat
ing the Lords Prayer, and the day
at the Sand Farm was open for bust
ness, and Sam felt more like working
than any day in his life.
AS he shouldered his axe and
started with the Sand Farmer for No.
6, the Sand Farmer said:
"When | first began clearing this
land | thought the best way was to
pull out the grubs and stumps, and
make a clean field as | went, but
soon found that it was going to take
a large sum of money, and several
years, before | could hope to get
enough land cleared to produce any
thing like living, but it will be well
for you to see just what | did, al
though you will have the benefit of
my experience.
"My first method of clearing the
land was to cut the trees about six
teen inches from the ground, and then
with a windlass, team of horses, and q
steel cable, to pull out the stumps.
| had more or less difficulty in max
ing the cable hold on the stump, and
keeping the cable smooth on the spool,
which required one man to drive the
team and watch the cable, one man
to pull back the cable for new hoid
and help the man making the hitch
to get the stumps out of the way after
they were pulled out.
Later | made a heavy steel hook
with three prongs, which the stump
puller could not break, but it would
slip off even when a hole was dug in
the sod to give it a chance TO catch
the stump close to the crown. 1t
weighed some forty pounds, and after
a man had worked on that hook all
day he felt like a galley slave.
Zone day | CHANGED to see steam
traction engine, and it gave me an
idea that | could use an engine in
place of the windlass, so | bought the
largest traction engine made. 1t
weighed Is tons on the car-without
water or coal-and when | unloaded
it at the farm the boys christened it
the Bull of the woods and it seemed
a veritable monster as it snorted and
tugged at the end of the steel cable,
tearing those stumps from the earth,
with roots sometimes fifteen and
twenty feet long.
"By blasting the pine stumps we
could take them out in sections, which
were easily handled, and later cut up
into one-foot lengths, and sold to the
city folks for their fireplaces. You
notice that big pile over yonder is
getting dry, and next winter will be
sawed up and packed in barrels and
large boxes, and shipped all over the
country to those who have enjoyed
camping in the woods, and love 70
sit before a pine-root fire, and think
of pleasant days gone by.
"ThiS work was very hard on the
engine, and we wore out several sets
of gears clearing up that hundred
acres, and began to realize that
some other method would have to be
employed if the pine barrenS' were
going to be subdued by the average
man, who was buying them because
they were cheap, with a view to max
ing home for himself, and as | now
had enough acreage to make the old
farm pay, | began to experiment with
other methods, and have founG that
by cutting these oak grubs close to
the ground, and peeling off the bark,
so that there are no eyes left to
sprout, can pillow the and-although
it is fearfully hard work, as you will
find out-and seed it to vetch and
rye and produce a crop Of humus to
be plowed under while the stumps arc
rotting out.
"The next year / pillow the other
way, which is a good deal easier, and
harrow with a special combination
pillow and harrow | made for this pur
pose. If here and there a sprout has
shown itself, it is cut off before the
second blowing.
"The vetch and rye make a rapid
growth, and draw a good quantity of
moisture from the land, and also keep
the stumps shaded which induces de-
cay TO set in, and most of these
stumps will pillow out in the second
or third year. Those that do not with
the pines, are dynamited as we get
spare time, and in three years the
land is practically ready for business,
having had two or three crops of
vetch and rye turned under, three
dressings of ground limestone disced
into the top soil before seeding, and
the hard-pan broken up by sub-soiling
if we find any.
"Now you settle down to cutting off
these grubs close to the ground, and
peeling the bark. l had rather have
you do half as much acreage, and do
it well, for it will save double time
later on, and tomorrow | will tell you
that hard-pan, which is causing us
much trouble in many places"