of removing stumps in the State of Washington by this method was found 

 to vary from 25 cents to $1.00 each for stumps as large as 40 inches in 

 diameter. While the method is most economical for clay soil, it was found 

 that it could be successfully applied to sandy soil. The method has been 

 fully described in General Bulletin 101 of the Agricultural Experiment 

 Station of Washington State College at Pullman, Washington. The cost of 

 clearing will naturally vary with the density of growth and the method used 

 to remove the stumps. It may vary from a few dollars to fifty or one hun- 

 dred dollars for heavily timbered land. 



Where the native vegetation is small brush or grasses, the land should 

 be plowed deeply, then raked to remove the large brush, which is burned. 

 This is followed by harrowing and the grading operation. 



Where the vegetation is tall sagebrush, it must be removed before the 

 land can be plowed. This may be done in several ways. Where the brush 

 is not abundant it may be grubbed off by hand. Where the brush is thick 

 and very dry it may be burned off while standing. A method largely used 

 in the Yakima Valley is to break off the brush by drawing a railroad rail 

 or heavy timber over the land, first in one direction and then in the other. 

 The best time to do this is when the ground is frozen. It requires a team 

 on each end of the rail. The brush breaks off at or below the surface and 

 is then raked into windrows or piles and burned. 



The cost of clearing off heavy brush in the Yakima Valley varies from 

 about $2.50 to $3.00 per acre when done with a rail and teams and about 

 $3.75 when done by hand. The cost of the first plowing is about $1.50 to 

 $2.00 per acre. The plowing is followed by harrowing and then the surface 

 is ready to be graded and prepared for irrigation. This includes the proper 

 location of the ditches, the grading of the land and in some cases the grow- 

 ing of some crop to improve the condition of the soil. 



Before grading the surface the location of head ditches or flumes must 

 be decided on. They must be so placed that when constructed they will 

 give the furrows a desirable grade and must divide the field so that the 

 furrows will not be over 300 feet long for sandy soil and 500 to 600 feet 

 for more impervious soil. Before the construction of these ditches the 

 land must be graded to conform with them. 



The grading of the land has been usually neglected in the irrigated sec- 

 tions of British Columbia. This is due largely to the character of the land. 

 Much of it is rolling or on fairly steep hillsides which can be irrigated with- 

 out grading. But in many cases the land would have been much improved 

 by some grading. 



The mistake is often made of planting orchards and other crops before 

 the land has been even properly cleared in order to give the trees an early 

 start and shorten the time before they will bear. In some cases this 

 results in leaving a field or orchard which is difficult to irrigate and which 

 can not be improved by grading because of the trees or other crop which 

 have been planted. The time gained by planting earlier will often be more 

 than balanced by the poor growth due to improper condition of the soil 

 and the uneven application of water. The loss in time necessary to apply 

 the water on poorly prepared land and the waste of water is often greater 

 than the cost of preparing the land. 



For furrow irrigation, which is the method most universally adaptable 

 to British Columbia, the only grading necessary is that the land be given 

 a uniform slope and all irregularities removed by scraping off the humps 



