^o Nov.. 1910.] 



I rrizatio)i. 



68^ 



The most economical way of proceeding in the case of green timber is 

 to kill it by ringing and remove it when dead. The standing dry timber 

 can be made a very simple proposition h\ means of a traction engine, which 

 ■can usually be hired. If attacked after the soil has been well saturated, 

 and the surface is yet hard enough for the engine, a day's pulling with a 

 team of three men who know their work will be about 10 acres of average 

 country. Except in the ca.se of very large trees, there will be no neces- 

 sity for grubbing round the butts and cutting roots. Generally, the tree 

 will yield, roots and all, and very little running of roots will be after- 

 w'ards necessary. It remains then to bum off all rubbish and remove the 

 serviceable wood for future conversion into fencing or other material, or 

 if the owner .sO' wills the whole may be burnt and done with, a course 

 which is by no means recommended. Failing an engine, hand-grubbing is 

 the most primitive method, but it may be shorn of much of its labourious- 

 ness by using a good double-purchase '"jack." In addition, there are 



7. STEAM PLOUGHING. 



many forms of effective stump-pullers on the market, or explosives may 

 be used ; as to their relative merits, the reader is left to the advice of his 

 friends or to manufacturers. In the Mallee country much of the scrub 

 can be rolled down with rollers specially made for the purpose and moved 

 -either by steam or animal power, but where the growth is too large for 

 the roller, the traction engine well handled will make a most effective 

 job. Bushes are easily dealt with, for which the mattock will be found 

 a most effective tool. 



Ploughing and Cultivating. 



Once the surface is clear the soil should be ploughed to a depth of 

 about 18 inches or such lesser depth as the proximity of the subsoil to the 

 surface will admit, care being taken thai in no case shall the subsoil l)e 

 iDrought to the surface. Where large areas are to be dealt with considerable 



