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Brandt, Gerard / Letters, 1850-1860 [Transcriptions]
Call Number, Milwaukee Small Collection 47 Box 1 ([unpublished])
Town Holland January 10 1851 [Translation], pp. 1-3
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Letter 6/ to this point that I wrote at the time [Translation], pp. 3-4
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Page 3
Letter 3, page 3, translation brush wood is cut off next to the ground that one does first and then 1 one throws that on a pile and then one cuts the little trees of the thickness of 2 a 'ponger' tree and thicker a little above the ground and then the branches 3 trimmed (???) off and these in turn put on piles and then next the heavy ones 2 and 2 1/2 feet above 4 the ground cut off and the topwood put with the preceding and the logs are chopped through 5 so often that they can be dragged by two oxen and these are 6 then brought together sometimes 10 12 to 20 or more and then 7 set on fire and then when all has been burned the ashes are collected if one 8 wants to sell them and one can get six cents a bushel for them and 2 1/3 9 bushel is a netherlands hectolitre [mud] and a cent is 2 1/2 cents netherlands so that one 10 has 40 cents holland for a hectolitre of ashes to chop that log 11 you would think is hard work but I believe that two men would have to work hard 12 to saw as much as two chop one stands on the log 13 and then on each side a cut is made to the middle short handles to the axes 14 and short axe blades it is fascinating to watch how handily it 15 goes forward then when the wood has been burnt off the ground one proceeds to fence it 16 about with split oak rails usually mad 10 to 12 feet 17 long and then one lays thes up to 7 to 8 above each other and the lowest cracks are 18 so narrow that no little pigs can get through and that is necessary for 19 they all run in the woods and where they want to on e accustoms them to come home 20 with a little feed that is the case too with the oxen and cattle 21 these one accustoms to come home with salt of that they are especially fond that 22 is not as it is in Zeeland cattle run at large as well in the winter as in the summer 23 when one chops wood they come to us and eat all the tops of the branches now I 24 have gotten a little off track that way then the first winter we got six acres 25 ready and on that we then had summer wheat and oats and indian 26 corn or nicknamed Spanish wheat that crop grows well here also all other 27 crops of the climate for tichbeans [paardeboonen] it is too hot the summer is short here 28 and hot when crops are growing growth is vigorous of potatoes 29 we did not have enough the first year for our use but now 30 we have many left over they have not been entirely free from 31 disease so that some also spoilt in the cellar the house we have 32 is 30 feet long and 20 feet wide built of 48 logs very 33 solid against storm here too we learn that all beginnings are difficult 34 yet we have endured these and have by this time retrieved still more ground 35 Letter 6 to this point then I wrote at the time and now then we have 36 1853 the 30th of March so that since that time we have come to know still more about America 37 and are also more at home than then the atmospheric 38
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