CHAPTER III. 



CLEARING; HOW TO DO IT, AND HOW NOT TO DO IT. 



The removal of timber from virgin land preparatory to plough- 

 ing, is known in Australia as " grubbing and clearing." The cost of 

 cluing this work, of course, varies very greatly, as will have been 

 gathered from the earlier chapters which give the average price of 

 clearing in the various localities described. The chief factor in the 

 cost of clearing is the quantity of timber that has to be removed, 

 and there are also subsidiary causes which regulate the price at 

 which the work can be done, as, for instance, the nature of the soil, 

 the time of the year at which the work is carried on, the variety of 

 timber, the proximity to the labor market, and the mechanical aids 

 that may be employed. Taking all these things into consideration, 

 and speaking generally, the spring and early summer are the best 

 periods of the year in which to do this work. If the land is clay or 

 at all inclined to be stiff it will have been well soaked by the winter 

 rains, and be easier to remove from around the roots of the trees. 

 Land cleared in the spring and ploughed the same season, is less 

 prone to throw up suckers from the fragments of roots that are 

 bound to be left on the ground, no matter how carefully the work is 

 done, than land cleared or ploughed in the autumn or winter. 

 Another advantage of clearing in spring and early summer is that 

 the rains are less frequent and the timber has a better chance of 

 burning. Light sandy soil covered with banksia and other woods 

 that burn readily, may be cleared at any time of the year. The 

 new settler may think that anyone who has sufficient strength can 

 do grubbing and clearing as well as the next one. This is a great 

 mistake. One cannot exalt clearing into an art or a science, but 

 there is a knack in doing the work that, simple as it looks, requires 

 a good deal of practice before one can become master of it. So 

 much is this the case that if the inexperienced settler has the money 

 at his command, my advice to him is to get this most laborious work 

 done by contract. 



If he has not, and is compelled to do the work himself, the 

 hints conveyed in the following notes may be of use to him. If I 

 now give in skeleton form the outline of a specification for clearing, 

 it will, I think, with a little explanation, convey to the mind of the 

 new settler the chief features of the work that has to be done, and 

 the proper way in which it should be performed. 



