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