Removing Trees in Early America

One of the daunting tasks facing farmers in colonial America was the removal of trees to make fields. New World forests were often lush wildernesses. Trees had been growing a long time in these virgin forests. Vines, briers, brush, and other vegetation sometimes entangled underneath. 

Using the Indian method of girding around the trunks of trees so they would either die of have reduced foliage wasn't quite as labor-intensive and time-consuming. To gird a tree, the farmer cut a notch around the tree about the width of his hand. If the tree-growth had grown too dense, some of them would have to be cut down. The farmer removed the stumps and roots if he had a team of oxen. If not, he left them to rot and worked around them until they did.

Because this was such slow, hard work, the farmer cleared the land a little at a time, claiming a little more each year. By the end of his life, he would not have cleared a hundred acres. Even after several generations, farms and plantations rarely had more than 250 acres. In a good year, it took 7 farmers to grown enough food for 10 people who didn't farm.

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