If the aim is merely to subdue and clean the land
as quickly as possible, nothing is better than buckwheat, sown
thickly and plowed under just as it comes into blossom. It is the
nature of this rampart-growing grain to kill out everything else
and leave the soil light and mellow. If the ground is encumbered
with many stones and rocks, the question of clearing it is more
complicated. They can be used, and often sold to advantage, for
building purposes. In some instances I have seen laboring-men
clear the most unpromising plots of ground by burying all rocks
and stones deeply beneath the surface--men, too, who had no other
time for the task except the brief hours before and after their
daily toil.
I shall give no distinct plan for laying out the ground. The taste
of the owner, or more probably that of his wife, will now come
into play. Their ideas also will be modified by many local
circumstances--as, for instance, the undulations of the land, if
there are any; proximity to neighbors, etc. If little besides
shade and lawn is desired, this fact will have a controlling
influence; if, on the other hand, the proprietor wishes to make
his acre as productive as possible, the house will be built nearer
the street, wider open space will be left for the garden, and
fruit-trees will predominate over those grown merely for shade and
beauty.
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