head and branch; whereas tall and heavy forest trees fly as it were under the axe from the stump, and in falling break themselves and all beneath them; in this manner some heavy forests cost less to clear than a lighter growth. The clearing having been left from six weeks to about two months, according to the weather, is fired, which is done generally by setting fire to it chiefly at _the lower ends_ in several places; by this means the fire is soon connected, and burning in the dryest or first cut down portions, unites in a sweeping flame, rushes up the hill, destroying all before it; such is the power of the flame from below, that when the burning is successful the part last cut, probably many acres, and yet lying green upon the ground, is consumed with the rest. After the flame has passed away, nothing should be seen but the smoking black logs of the large trees, which, wherever they cross each other and do not lay upon the ground, require to be cut across and brought down. If the operation has been successfully managed, the land is now in readiness for the next operation--_Lining_, or staking out the positions of the intended plants. This is performed in many ways, but it is essential to have it done well, that the plants should make perfect lines across the ground to be planted, in order to maintain regularity in the plantation work, and give the best possible appearance to the field; therefore no expense necessary to ensure its correct and workmanlike performance should be grudged. The simplest method is by means of a line, with marks placed at equal distances for the spaces between the plants up the hill. This carried by men at each end, who respectively measure a distance with a rod for that purpose from the last peg, and holding the line taught from end to end; boys following with pegs ready cut put them in at the marks on the line. This method is likely to lead to inaccuracy on a large feature, in consequence of the irregularity of the ground, and from the small inaccuracies accumulating in the measurement between each laying down of the line. A better way is to lay out a feature in squares of the line, and these into parallels across the feature, and then drop the line between each peg on the parallels, putting in the remaining pegs by the marks on the line. Some planters have an excellent plan of laying down a number of lines up and down the hill at measured distances, and then two men with a shorter line measure distances upwards on the two outside lines, and peg-men put in their sticks at the points where the lines cross each other. We have seen some plantations laid out by the use of the theodolite, but this is not an instrument to be found on many estates. The object to be gained in lining is to carry the plants in straight lines parallel to each other, at the same bearing over the whole estate, and to make them cross each other at right angles; by this means lines will be formed four