are gashed at about
three feet from the ground. This saves the bushman's back, obviating the
necessity of his stooping, and, moreover, allows him to get through more
work. Also, in after years, when the stumps are rotten, they are more
easily pulled out of the ground. By a simple disposition of the
direction in which the gashes are cut, the bushman is able to bring down
his tree to whichever side he wishes. A bill-hook, or slasher,
supplements the axe, for the purpose of clearing all the undergrowth.
Nothing is left standing above waist-height.

The usual time for bush-falling is the dry season, that is to say, from
August till March, in which last month the burn is usually accomplished.
By that time the fallen stuff has been pretty well dried in the summer
sun, and will burn clean. Fires are started along the bottoms on days
when the wind is favourable. Some experience is needful to ensure a good
burn. Should the burn be a bad one, after work is much increased, and
wages consequently spoilt.

After the burn comes the logging, that is, the collection into heaps of
such _debris_ as lies about unburnt, and the final burning of these
heaps. During April and May the rains begin; and then grass seed is sown
broadcast over the charred expanse. It soon sprouts up, and in a couple
of months there will begin to be some pasturage. Before next season a
good strong turf ought to have formed among the stumps. Every farmer has
his own particular ideas as to the kinds of seed to use. We used a
mixture of poa pratensis, timothy, and Dutch clover, and have abundant
reason to be satisfied with the result.

When bush-falling is performed by hired labour, it usually goes by
contract. The bushman agrees to fall, fire, and log a specified tract,
at a fixed price per acre. Such bush as ours would go at thirty
shillings to three pounds an acre, according to the size of the trees on
the average. A bushman reckons to earn five shillings a day, taking one
day with another, so he ought to knock down an acre of stuff in from
five to ten days. Thirty or forty acres represent one man's work for the
season.

A good deal of judgment is required in making these contracts. Where
there is a great deal of supple-jack, or tawhera scrub, the work may get
on as slowly as if the trees were comparatively large. And there is a
good deal of luck in the burn, for if it be a bad one there may be
weeks of logging afterwards. Sometimes, at the end of the season,