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CLEARING LAND.
Stump-pulling machinery. — There
are many different kinds of stump-pull
ing machinery upon the market. The
promoters of these various grubbing
devices claim great credit for their
respective machines, but catalogue
claims should be accepted with great
caution.
In the neighborhood of the writer,
and doubtless in many other neigh
borhoods, can be found such machin
ery in idleness because it was tested
and found wanting. The difficulty
with most stump-pulling machines is
that if they are strong enough for the
work desired of them they are too ex
pensive, cumbersome, and unwieldy.
When these machines are once pro
perly adjusted, their work, providing
nothing breaks, will be satisfactory.
But the labor of moving and the care
of adjusting, together with the liabili
ty to breakage, more than outweigh
the virtues of any stump-pulling ma
chine known to the writer. Moreover,
usually, when the timber is large
enough and thick enough to suggest
recourse to machinery for clearing, it
will not pay to clear such land at all
unless it can be devoted to some spec
ially profitable crop.
However, it may be said of ma
chinery cleared land that the clearing
is thorough. The machine removes
practically all of the roots of any size
from the ground, leaving the land in a
good tillable condition.
When it is the intention to use a
machine the timber should be cut
away and removed and the brush burn
ed. Such preparatory work will great
ly facilitate the moving and operation
of the machine. The stumps should
be left high enough to conveniently
loop with a chain, for it is much eas
ier to get a secure hold above than be
low ground.
Best time to operate a machine. —
The best time to operate a machine is
immediately after a heavy thaw or
rain. The stumps will draw much
easier when the ground is soft and
loose than when it is dry and hard.
Clearing With Horses and Chain.
Pulling up saplings.—This method
consists in pulling the young trees out
of the ground. Where conditions are
favorable it Is surprising how rapidly
this may he accomplished. Best re
sults can be obtained where the growth
consists of saplings, say 2 to 4 inches
in diameter, which have a lateral root
system such as is possessed by the
locust, maple or dogwood. The
ground should be soft and loose. The
plan is simple. It consists in fasten
ing one end of a long chain to the
trunk of the sapling as high above the
ground as the flexibility of the tree
will permit and hitching a steady
horse, or, if necessary, a team of hors
es, to the other end of the chain.
While the horses are pulling at the
tree a man should be at its base with
an ax and assist them by severing
such roots as seem loth to give away.
Good and fast work. —Tn this man
ner, when th saplings are of the right
size and kind, the ground in proper
condition, the horses true and steady,
the man with the ax alert and dis
creet, wonderfully good and fast work
ran be accomplished.
Stumps may also be pulled up with
chain and horses. One end of a log
chain should be fastened around one
of the large roots of the stump, a team
of horses being hitched to the other
end. The chain is placed across the
top of the stump which acts as a fu
lcrum and furnishes leverage for Its
own removal.
Clearing With Oxen.
A method in use at the Alaska Ex
periment station is thus described by
Prof. C. C. Georgeson, special agent
in charge of those stations, in his an
nual report lor 1901:
"It has been our policy to gradually
extend the clearing of land when the
time could be spared from other work.
The timber is small and the task is
not a difficult one, but the stumps are
numerous, and it became necessary to
devise some plan by which they could
be pulled rapidly. The roots do not
grow deep and it does not take very
great power to pull the average stump.
A machine which was set up over the
stump and worked by hand was first
tried, but it proved to be too slow
work, and it was too cumbersome to
move. As a cheap and efficient means
to aid in this work, I devised a simple
stump-pulling tackle, consisting of
two triple blocks and three hundred
feet of one-inch rope. One block is
anchored to a solid stump and the
other is attached to the stump it is de
sired to pull. When secured in this
way the oxen are htiched to the rope
and driven up slowly, and the stump
usually comes out without trouble.
Two men and a yoke of oxen pulled
6 stumps in fifty minutes while I was
there. I mention this fact only to
show that it is a simple and efficient
machine.
When the stumps are 12 inches in
diameter, or when cut low so as to
afford no leverage, we use a device of
two timbers about 6 feet high, fasten
ed together in the form of a letter A.
To the top of this A is attached a
chain or wire rope some 4 or 5 feet
long and terminating in a hook. The
A leans against one side of the stump
and th;> hook is attached to a large
root on the other side. The power is
then applied to the top of the A, and
as this is raised up the stump is
tilted over. The device simply af
fords greater leverage than when the
block is secured directly to the stump.
Clearing with mattock.—The mat
tock is king of new ground tools. No
other instrument is so widely or satis
factorily used for grubbing. Wher
ever there are bushes the farm equip
age is incomplete without its quota of
mattocks in good condition. This
tool is the most simple and convenient
of all clearing implements.
Gradual clearing.—ln most instan
ces economy and convenience require
that clearing be done gradually, an
acre or two being added each year.
For such work the mattock is un
doubtedly tho most economical and
best adapted. . When a large tract
is to be cleared without intermission,
then other methods may be more suit
able.
It is not generally advisable to cut
off timber with a view to grub out the
stumps afterwards. It is much easier
to grub the standing timber than the
stumps after the trunk and tops have
been levered, for it is the tap roots
that are most Inaccessible and diffi
cult to reach and cut, and the tops, by
serving as a lever, greatly assist in
loosening these.
Removal by wind and rain.—ln the
removal of trees of considerable lize
much labor may be Raved by digging
a trench immediately around the base
of the tree, cutting all the laterals,
and leaving the tap roots for the ac
tion of rain and wind. Water will
collect in the trench and soften the
BUbsoil and the v/ind with its sway
ing force will soon throw the tree. In
deed, when the side roots and the
earth have been removed from around
THE RANCH.
a tree, the prying force which the top
will exercise upon the remaining roots
will be irresistable. Each drop of
rain and oach puff of wind will con
tribute toward loosening and breaking
those tap roots, which on account of
their position almost defy the mat
tock. The assistance which nature
is capable of affording in clearing
away trees is wonderful. The spring
season, when the ground is loose, the
rains heavy, and the winds strong, is
the most opportune time to pursue
the above method.
Use sharp tools. —If a new mattock
is needed do not be too economical
to purchase it, and if it is dull do not
Imagine that you have not time to
sharpen it. With a worn or dull hoe
a man will pound more life out of him
self than out of the bushes. A good
plan is to have two hoes lor each grub
her, always keeping one in good condi
tion. For sharpening hoes there is
nothing so satisfactory as a steel file
12 or 16 inches in length.
Do not attempt too much continu
ous grubbing. It is very laborious
work, and men will soon tire of it
and become discouraged. A fatigued,
disheartened laborer is never a suc
cess.
Grubbing at intervals. —Plan to do
some weeks of grubbing in the fall
before winter sets in, continue it from
time to time during the winter as wea
ther permits, and follow it up in the
spring with a few weeks more. In
this manner a good deal can be ac
complished without overtaxing your
men at any one time.
Grubbing is slow and expensive, but
when the land is needed it is time and
means well spent. No farm is well
ordered where there are foul fields
and overgrown fence rows. No far
mer commands the esteem of his
neighbors when bushes are every
where encroaching upon him.
Bush land is yielding no income.
It is a boarder, and the owner pays
tne board bill in the shape of taxes,
while the land is depreciating because
it is growing all the time more ex
pensive to clear.
The Durability and Perishability of
Stumps.
This feature of stumps manifestly
affects the problem of their removal.
It is expensive to remove them, what
ever method is employed, and if they
are readily perishable it will be wise
to leave their disposition to the pro
cesses of nature.
On the other hand, cultivation
among stumps is unsatisfactory, and
if they are very resistant to decay it
will be well to take them out.
The inclination of stumps to resist
or succumb to the corroding effects
of time are most striking and vary
ing. For instance, the stumps of the
locust and cedar are almost unaffect
ed by the waste and ravages of age.
He who cuts off such timber expect
ing the stumps to decay will wait in
vain, for he will invariably pass away
while the stumps will remain firm in
their native fastness.
Stumps of the chestnut and white
oak, if large, will, though not so du
lable as the locust and cedars, easily
survive for a generation. While other
.species of the oak genus, the yellow
poplar, and most species of the pine,
will Sc,f7 n perish, the white pine is,
however, very durable.
When the durability of stumps ren
ders their removal advisable, if they
are large, it is well to wait a number
of years after cutting away the tim
ber until the smaller roots have rot
ted, when the stumps may be removed
with much less labor. Meanwhile the
land should be pastured or cultivated
to keep down foul vegetation.
A Practical Illustration in Clearing
Land.
In view of the various methods
above referred to in clearing land and
of the varying conditions of the land
to be cleared, it may be helpful to the
reader to take a certain lot and des
cribe from the beginning the clearing
process to be pursued. In presenting
such a practical illustration, however,
we will not discuss the method refer
red to and sufficiently described un
der the heading of "Clearing by Pas
turing." This method is, when time
and circumstances permit, one to be
highly commended, but it presents
fewer difficulties than other methods,
and hence the present illustration
will deal with the other methods.
We will suppose a 5-acre lot covered
with a variety of wooded growth, as
is usually the case, including white
and black oak, chestnut, hickory, pop
lar, pine and dogwood, varying in
size from the small sapling to me
dium-sized trees, and the whole cov
ered with more or less, perhaps con
siderable, underbrush. We will as
sume that the owner of this lot de
sires to use this land as soon as possi
ble, and that, after due consideration
of its soil and location, character of
the growth covering it, and the proba
ble cost of clearing the same, he de
cides that it will pay him to do so for
the purpose he has in view.
The first step, regardless of what
subsequent methods he may pursue,
will be to select a dry time, probably
in middle or late summer, to fire the
underbrush and thoroughly burn over
the lot. A good burning at this season
will clear much of the small growth
and consume the litter, both of which
will be of considerable assistance in
future treatment, whatever that may
be.
Now, were the character of the
growth on this lot fairly uniform as
to the age and kind of timber, the
undergrowth being burned away, a
uniform method of clearing could be
adopted to remove the timber still
standing, but, as we have said, the
growth varies in size from the small
sapling to the medium-sized tree. The
character of the timber includes more
or less of the kinds and varieties re
ferred to above under the head of
taproot, indeterminate root, and lat
eral root systems. Consequently it
will be necessary for the owner to re
sort to more than one means to effect
a complete clearing of this land.
After what has already been said with
reference to the matter, it is obvious
that the mattock and the ax must be
provided and considerable dependence
placed on these tools. The first thing
to be undertaken should be to cut
down those of a sufficiently large
growth to make serviceable timber
for firewood or other purposes, whose
stumps may be allowed to remain in
the ground, either because of their
tendency to quickly rot and decay or
because of their deep taproots, mak
ing the removal of the stump diffi
cult and costly, bearing in mind also
that the taproot stumps offer com
paratively little obstruction to the
plow. In the case of trees of medium
growth, of which, owing to the nature
of their roots, the stumps must be re
moved, it will be well to dig down
around the base, making a trench, as
it were, around the tree, severing
with the ax all roots extending later
ally from the stump; if these re
mained unsevered they would serve
