24 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



three times as much rough pasture is wanted as hay land. Five acres of good land 

 well cleared and in good order, \vill give about 15 tons of timothy or clover hay, 

 which is all that would be wanted for, say seven head of cattle during the winter. 

 If you are not milking, cattle will pasture out more or less nearly all winter on 

 the Lower Fraser. 



BURNING THE STUMPS. 



On land too far from a market to sell cordwood or shingle-bolts it will be 

 necessary to burn everything on the land you are going to use for hay. On the 

 balance of the land it is better not to cut any standing coniferous timber over 10 

 inches thick (as some day these will have a good value for saw-logs), but seed 

 down for pasture, using a much larger proportion of small white clover and orchard- 

 grass, and leave out the medium red clover entirely. The great mistake many 

 settlers have made is in cutting the timber down and burning it, simply^to get rid 

 of it, forgetting that they are destroying a valuable aid in getting rid of the stumps. 

 If cordwood can be made profitably out of this timber, all the better ; but if not, then 

 use the timber for burning out the stumps. Probably the cheapest way to get these 

 out is by powder ; but where there is a certain amount of good \vood to burn, 

 anyway, it is better by far to burn it to the best advantage, and the best possible 

 way to do this is to burn out the first-growth fir stumps with it. 



The various means of getting rid of the big stumps are referred to later. 



KILLING THE SPROUTS. 



The clearing is now one year advanced; it is chopped, burnt, seeded, branded 

 up, fenced, and the cordwood cut, stacked, and ready for hauling next summer. The 

 process of clearing so far described should be repeated every year till all the farm 

 is cleared to the same degree and in pasture. 



The summer following the first chopping the ferns should be cut three times 

 if possible, as before mentioned. It will be found that while the first cutting will 

 take about a week (for 10 acres), the third cutting will not take over a day or two. 

 About August, after the second clearing is chopped and before it is burnt, there 

 should be about two weeks' spare time. Get a small camping-axe (75 cents), with 

 a short handle about a foot long, and spend a few days in cutting out the willow, 

 hazel, and vine-maple sprouts growing up from the roots of last year's clearing. 

 Do not be satisfied with pruning them off, as a good many may grow again, but 

 knock them off at the root. There is no need to spend much time over this, as a 

 good many of the smaller ones will be nibbled off by the cattle or sheep and others 

 will die out in any case the second year, but what you do chop or knock off treat 

 thoroughly. 



If these sprouts are not destroyed the root will not die and will eventually have 

 to be dug out by hand, while, if the roots can be killed the first or second year, 

 another year or two will see them gradually disappear, and when the real stumping 

 commences there will be none of these small stumps left. This greatly reduces the 

 cost of clearing. 



BETWEEN-SEASON WORK. 



It is a good plan during the time of chopping the next 10 acres, whenever there 

 is an extra-warm day, to burn off a few piles of the " branding-up " heaps (taking 

 care not to burn any of the cordwood). It lends a little variety to the work of 

 chopping. These branding-up heaps can be burnt almost any time between April 

 and September. When the fire is out, pick up any fragments left and pile them on 

 the nearest unburnt heap and immediately seed down the burnt spot. If rain falls 

 before the seed is sown, drag a handful of brush (two or three fir branches) over 

 the ashes after the sowing. This will cover them and give them a good start. 



When you have got all the " branding-up " piles, and the piles of branches 

 from the trees which have been made into cordwood, burnt, and the cordwood hauled 



