Page:The plains of Long Island.djvu/17

 these plain lands improve constantly in their fertility under cultivation, even when no manures are applied.

—The alleged tendency to be affected by frosts, is another objection urged against the cultivation of the plain lands. It seems impossible to my mind in the nature of things, that any district of an Island, in the position of Long Island, and so remarkable for its mild temperature, should necessarily be exposed to this great evil. If frosts do at present prevail on these plains, the fact may be referred to philosophical causes, which the progress of improvement will remove. Here is a vast area covered by a thick matting of trees, bushes and impervious herbage. The winds do not circulate through this canopy; the earth beneath it is always damp—an immense excess of evaporation takes place from these combined causes, and the soil has never been penetrated or warmed by the genial rays of the sun. Gentlemen remarked to me, that when riding through the plains in the evening they could perceive a difference of several degrees decrease in the temperature among the bushes and that of the atmosphere which enveloped the clearings. When this vegetation is removed from the surface and the earth is dried and warmed by the action of the air and heat, no difficulty of this kind, I am confident, will exist.

—The heavy expense which, by the common practice has been incurred, in preparing the lands of the bush plains for tillage, has been a serious obstacle to their occupation by men of ordinary means. The peculiar advantages of position and the great value of these lands when subdued, will probably justify these disbursements when the occupant possesses capital which he can conveniently appropriate to the purpose. The soil is thus brought into immediate culture and productiveness, and one successful crop will generally return the expenditure. The method used upon these lands ordinarily is very unlike that pursued with other wild lands. The usual course elsewhere, is to cut the heavy timber, to clear off, pile and burn the under-brush and rubbish; to seed down with a crop dragged in on the fallow, and leave the roots and stumps to decay through the processes of Nature. When this is accomplished, the plow is successfully introduced. There is delay in this system, not perhaps conformable to the designs and interests of the proprietors of the plain lands, but by it great economy is secured. No owner of wild land in other sections of the country, would dream of preparing his soil for cultivation by a preparatory grubbing by manual labor; yet, under existing circumstances, this method on these plains, has undoubtedly its advantages.

I have carefully collected information in reference to the various plans pursued in these operations, and will briefly present the result of my enquiries. Mr. Bridges has favored me with a very intelligent account of the methods he has used in subduing his own lands. I can merely introduce an abstract of his paper. He states that he has tried three methods: 1st. Grubbing all over by hand, taking out everything, stumps and bushes. 2d. What we call stumping, which is to go over the land cutting the stumps 6 or 8 inches below