CLEAUIN<J Ursii LANDS IN IKITFSH < 'm.r.MiiiA. 27 



after the fire is once started, will rarely put it out. After the log is once split, 

 however, it should be replied and burnt at once. Don't let it lie exposed to rain. 

 as it will not burn so well if the split pieces are allowed to get wet before repiling. 



There is always a considerable amount of rotten wood alongside these old fir 

 logs, which is in such small pieces as to be difficult to handle. The heat of the fire 

 will dry these out for 3 or 4 feet on each side of the log, and the fire will usually 

 catch and burn up all the rubbish. Very little attention is needed and very little 

 branding-up. These large pieces are heavy to handle, and it is as well to exchange 

 work with a neighbour for a day or two while these logs are being burnt. Always 

 repile the log in the place where it originally lay. The reason for this is, first, that 

 it will then burn up all the rubbish on both sides with the least handling, and, 

 secondly, because the log invariably lies in a slight depression caused by its own 

 weight, and as the ground under the fire is sure to be badly burnt, when you come 

 to plough and level off, this burnt spot is naturally covered up. 



When this log is almost burnt up is a good time for taking a shovel and 

 shovelling into the hole left by the burned log (which, with many burning embers 

 in it, is still hot) all rotten wood lying anywhere near the log. This is the last 

 opportunity you will have of getting rid of this rotten wood at practically no cost. 

 If this is not done, the rotten wood will afterwards have to be raked together and 

 burned and it is a tiresome job to do this but if shovelled on to the log-fire before 

 it goes out it will all be cleared away. This rotten wood should be got rid of in 

 any case, as it is a great detriment to the soil if ploughed in. 



LOG-BURNING. 



The best system for burning the smaller logs and the roots and stumps is some- 

 what different ; in most timbered sections there will probably be one or more gullies, 

 or if not there are sure to be depressions with rising ground on each side. Dig out 

 of the side of the gully about 8 or 10 feet from the top (or out of the rising ground 

 at the side of the swale, as the case may be) a good-sized hole about 14 feet square 

 with a fiat floor, somewhat as if you were going to build a bank root-house. (See 

 Fig. 4.) And in the hole dug out build a pile of logs, old roots, or anything at all 

 that has to be burnt. The site of this burning-pit should be chosen in as central 

 and convenient a place as possible, having in view the logging not only of what is 

 now cleared, but what is going to be cleared next year. Sometimes two neighbours 



FIG 4 CROSS ^rcnon OF QURNIHG PIT. 



can join at one burning-pit if it is dug at a point convenient to both of them. This 

 pit may take a day or two to dig, but it is well-spent time, as it may save weeks 

 of work afterwards. 



The actual logging is best done, where possible, by two or three neighbours join- 

 ing together and exchanging work: many hands make light work, and many teams 

 make it lighter, but it is surprising, even with only two teams, how quickly the 

 ground is cleared off. Do not start the fire now, but after the pit is once full haul 

 everything up to the edge, or as near to it as possible, and leave it exposed to the 

 sun to dry out for a while, and then when the loLrginir is finished a fire can be started 

 in the pit almost any time of the year, even in the winter if there is enough dry 



