140 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIHTY. 



shovels would cut the dirt loose, and then the team would go forward 

 again until the stump was cleared from the ground. 



Question — How do you get rid of these stumps? 



Answer — In regard to getting rid of these stumps would say that 

 after we get them on top of the ground we would not do any piling un- 

 til we had cleared off 40 acres or more. Generally we have 40 acres 

 on band, and then we would suspend other operations until they were 

 cleared up. Our method of piling these stumps was to attach a long 

 arm or lever which we call a gin pole. It is attached to this machine 

 and raises and lowers. The arm of the machine is thrown sidewise and 

 there is a catch on the end and then the belt holds the stump until 

 from below there is a release of it. 



We would start pulling stumps — we would set this machine and pull 

 in a number of stumps with the horses to form a base for this pile 

 and then pile these stumps all together, sometimes as high as they 

 could be made, and the piles would contain hundreds of stumps, and then 

 fire was set to them and burned. On 40 acres we would have about ten 

 such piles, and they would all burn up, either wet or dry. 



A great many people said to me "You should not do this, for you 

 will injure your land." At first I did not know but I would, but I wish 

 to state after burning these immense piles of stumps we would go in. 

 before the land was cultivated, with an ordinary road scraper and 

 scrape these piles of ashes out over the land, and I wish to state that 

 where we have planted both cherry and peach trees, some of the best 

 growing trees are growing right where we had these stump piles. T 

 have my own theory about that, and that is, it is the lime in these 

 ashes which benefits these trees. I do not think the burning of stump 

 piles in a clearing of land does any damage, although it may be that 

 forest fires running over land may burn out the humus and do con- 

 siderable damage. 



After these stumps have been piled and burned, we then go over this 

 land with a jumper — it is nothing more than an ordinary sled witli 

 wooden runners, that a team of horses will draw, and go over the land 

 picking up the roots and everything on the surface, and haul back to- 

 gether in piles and burn them, and then the land is well cleared. We 

 get in on it to do ploughing in the fall. Then after the land is ploughed 

 we go in with our jumper and pick up everything that has been thrown 

 out on the surface, such as roots, etc., that have been turned up by the 

 plow. After this operation we finish by ploughing, and thus the land and 

 our work is finished all but the planting in the spring. Although in the 

 fall of the year we make a practice of having our land surveyed and 

 set with stakes for the trees. It is cheaper to plant your trees on a 

 large plat by the aid of a surveyor's crew than to line it up yourself. 

 I paid a surveyor for his work $6.00 a day, he paid his helpers ,fl.7ii 

 a day. I took this surveyor and this crew and they surveyed and T 

 found that they could set a good many more stakes than any home made 

 crew that could be had, and then there is the satisfaction of knowing 

 that everything is done right, and then your trees are lined up properly, 

 and especially on rough or rolling land. Another practice which we 

 make is of securing: our trees in the fall and heel them in for the winter. 



■.- 



I have a carload of trees now on the way which I expect to heel in as 

 soon as they arrive. Mr. Paul Rose who has been the father of this 



