CLK.\IM\<; IJrsi-i LAXDS i.\ KKITISH ( 'OLTMBIA. 25 



away, the clearing is finished as far as the pasture stage is concerned ; that is, there 

 is nothing further to do to it so long as it is only going to be used for pasture ; the 

 bulk of the old logs will have been used up, the fir for cordwood and the cedar for 

 fencing, buildings, etc. ; all that will be left will be the stumps and a few fir logs 

 too rotten for cordwood. The following year the pasture will be first-class, and as 

 good as could be wished. Last year, by the first of June, the writer had clover 

 over 2 feet high on a piece of clearing at the same stage as that described above, 

 and it was very thick. If it had been cut for hay on that date it would have gone 

 over 2 tons to the acre. 



If it is the intention to stump and break up the land as soon as the stumps an> 

 ripe, then the following winter it would be as well to spend a few weeks in pre- 

 liminary work, which will consist of a few underdrains and logging off the old 

 rotten logs. The draining should be done first, as it dries out the the wet places 

 and helps the rotten logs to dry out too. Most of those that are too rotten to 

 handle with a team can be burnt off without handling at all during August, by the 

 coal-oil method before described. The use of a bottle of coal-oil and a .bunch of 

 matches, or a gum-stick torch, will greatly reduce the time required for burning the 

 brush-heaps ami branding-up piles; in fact, 10 cents' worth of coal-oil will often 

 save a day or even two days' work, as no kindling is required to start the fires, a 

 small handful of leaves or dry ferns only. It is by using all these little time-saving 

 devices that the cost of clearing is so greatly lessened. 



CLEARING FOR POULTRY AND BERRIES. 



The clearing operations so far described apply more particularly to land which 

 is going to be used for mixed farming, dairying, or stock-raising, where the cost of 

 clearing is a most important question. The clearing done as described above can 

 be done more cheaply than in any other way, the idea being that when it has reached 

 what might be called the "pasture stage" it is all right to leave it like that until 

 the stumps are completely ripe for taking out that is, rotten or at least semi-rotten. 

 This will take from three to seven years, depending upon the size of the stump 

 and the variety of the timber. It is not worth while in any case leaving it longer 

 than seven years, as, in the case of old-growth fir, hemlock or cedar stumps, to make 

 any appreciable difference after seven years would mean a further very considerable 

 la | iso of time, and this is usually not worth waiting for if the settler has the moans 

 for taking the stumps out. 



The circumstances of clearing up a small acreage for chickens or berries, how- 

 ever, are quite different. In this case the question of cost is not so important, as 

 $100 or even $200 an acre, more or less, in the cost of clearing is more than offset 

 by the saving in time. This is particularly the case in connection with berry - 

 growing. If the land is for poultry-raising only, the best course to take is to get 

 rid of most of the standing timber first, on at least an acre, then immediately grub 

 out the small roots (willow, alder, etc.) on the building-sites and for a small ganlrn- 

 patch. Then, when the various chicken-houses, etc., are built and the runs fenced, 

 the small stumps (up to, say, 10 inches in diameter) can be grubbed out without 

 one's having to wait for them to rot. The larger ones would have to be taken out 

 later as opportunity occurred. It is, naturally, important to a man owning only 5 

 or 10 acres to get it producing as quickly as possible. 



In the case of a piece of ground intended for berry-growing, probably the example 

 of the Japanese is about the best to follow. There are large areas of berry land 

 in the Lower Fraser which have been cleared by Japanese within the last few years 

 and almost entirely put into berries (strawberries and cane-fruits, chiefly). Their 

 system is to cut down and burn up the timber of half an acre and immediately start 

 taking out the stumps, big and little, as they come to them. As soon as a small 

 patch is stumped, no mater how small, the ground is graded by hand, and, if the 

 time of the year is suitable, berries are immediately planted, so that by the end of 



