Colonel B----- was an old and valued friend of my family, who had held
a lucrative situation under Government for many years.  His retirement
from public life, on some disgust, had eventually led to his settlement
in Canada.

Now, his literary tastes and sedentary habits had ill-fitted him for the rough customs of the colony.  Besides having scarcely seen a grain of corn in its progressive state from the blade to its earing and harvest, he knew nothing of agricultural operations.  Of stock he was equally ignorant, and of the comparative goodness or badness of soil he was, of course, no judge.  Such a man, in the choice of a farm, was sure to be shaved by the shrewd Yankee proprietor, and my poor friend was shaved accordingly.

I found my friend’s farm had been much neglected.  His out-door labourers were all from the south of Ireland, and had never before followed farming operations.  In consequence of their inexperience, half the clearing was quite overrun with raspberries and Canadian thistles.  (The latter weed is far more troublesome to eradicate than any other I know.  It is the same as the common corn-thistle, or Serratula arvensis, so well known to English agriculturists).

As we intended to prepare a large piece of ground for summer-fallow, it was necessary to get rid of those stumps of the trees, which, according to the practice of chopping them two or three feet from the ground, present a continual obstacle to the advance of the plough.  We, however, succeeded in getting clear of them by hitching a logging-chain round the stump near the top, when a sudden jerk from the oxen was generally sufficient to pull it up.  For the larger, and those more firmly fixed in the ground, we made use of a lever about twenty feet long, and about eight or nine inches in diameter, one end of which was securely chained to the stump, the oxen being fastened to the other and made to go in a circular direction, a manoeuvre which rarely fails of the desired effect.  This plan will not answer unless the roots are sufficiently decayed.  During dry weather the application of fire produces more effectual results.  A few embers shaken from a cedar-torch on the crown of the stump are sufficient for the purpose:  some hundreds of these blazing merrily at night have a very pretty effect.

In ten or twelve years the hard woods, such as oak, ash, beech and maple disappear; but the stumps of the evergreens, such as pine, hemlock and cedar, are much more difficult to eradicate.

The land being of a sandy nature, we had but few stones to contend with.  When such is the case, we raise them above the surface, by the help of levers.  By these means, stones of half a ton weight can be easily lifted from their beds.  The larger ones are generally drawn off the fields to make the foundations of fences, and those of a smaller size are used in the construction of French drains.

To succeed well with your summer fallow, it is necessary to have the sod all turned over with the plough by the end of May, or sooner if possible.  Shortly afterwards the fallow should be well harrowed; in July it should be crossed, ploughed and harrowed, and rolled at least twice before the final ploughing or ridging up, which should be completed by the last week in August.