The _svedging_ or burning served two purposes, it cleared away the forest and produced a splendid fertilizer. When a tract of wooded land was to be made into field by this means, the trees were felled in a certain order and allowed to dry for about a year, when the branches were removed from the trunks, and all useful timber was cut into logs. The following summer the branches and trees were burnt; “among the Finns,” after certain incantations had been read. Men and women dressed in their poorest clothes superintended the burning, and saw to it that every part of the surface was singed. In the autumn or some weeks after the burning, rye was sown in the ashes among the stumps and the large tree trunks, that had not been removed or that would not burn. When the crop had been harvested all the trunks and logs were rolled or carried into piles to be burnt. The ground was then prepared more carefully, and grain (oats, rye or wheat) was again sown. Soil that had thus been enriched with ashes through burning, could bear good crops for five or six years without manuring or new burning. Hence logs, branches and the like were sometimes carried from the woods, and spread over the old fields. When these had been burnt, grain was sown as before. In Sweden and Finland this method became so common during the seventeenth century, that ordinances were passed against it by the government, and many Finns were sent to New Sweden for violating the laws forbidding the practice. The Finns, and in some cases the Swedes, continued the _svedging_ (burning) on the South River, and several tracts were thus cleared in 1654–55. When spring came the improved land of New Sweden was large enough to support the people, but the winter frost ruined the grain, which had been sown in the autumn. There was no corn in the colony for a new seeding, but Richard Lord promised to supply the want. As he arrived rather late, however, the old fields were planted with tobacco in March and April, and many new plots were prepared. [Illustration: Storehouses in Finland. Near the corner to the right of the central storehouse is a harrow, made of “long wooden teeth,” and to the left is the sled loaded with hay. R.]