32 



DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



Underdrains will not draw well over 40 rods in length unless they are open at 

 both ends, so that if they are going to be much longer than this they should have 

 an open ditch at both ends. . 



It is often desirable where there are open ditches in a field to have drinking- 

 places ; otherwise cattle will get into them and very soon break down the sides and 

 block the ditch. These drinking-places should be made by the digging of a sloping 

 passage away on one side of the ditch (see Fig. 7) and flooring it with split cedar 

 rails. The bottom of the ditch at this point should be paved with large cobble- 

 stones and a load of gravel should be put at the top of the split cedar passage-way ; 

 otherwise it will very soon be tramped up into mud. All open ditches should be 



fenced on both sides to keep out cattle and hogs. A very cheap fence only is 

 necessary, and one not over 3 feet high. The sides of the drinking-place where it 

 meets the ditch should have a number of driven cedar pickets across the ditch 

 sufficiently wide apart to offer no obstruction to the water in the ditch, with a 

 rail nailed to the top to keep them in position. This prevents hogs going up the 

 ditch. 



STUMPING. 



The last stage of the clearing operations has now been reached, the stumping. 

 The taking-out of the last of the smaller second-growth firs, cedars, etc., should be 

 done about four to seven years after they are cut ; the longer they are left the 

 easier they will come out, but the big firs and cedars can be safely left until the 

 farm is in a good, profitable state; in other words, this last stage of the stumping 

 should be done out of profits and not out of capital, unless a man has ample means, 

 as the big stumps, unless very numerous, do not interfere to any extent with the 

 profitable working of the farm. 



There are several methods of handling the big stumps and it would be unwise 

 to lay down any hard-an-fast rules, so much depends upon the man himself and 

 the means he has at hand, as well as many other circumstances, such as soil, acreage, 

 etc. It might be as well, however, before describing the various methods, to say 

 that large stumping operations done with donkey-engines are altogether out of the 

 reach of the average man, and, while this method of taking out stumps might be 

 advisable in some feAV cases, it is not generally applicable. Before work with a 

 donkey-engine is undertaken several conditions are necessary, and the lack of any 

 one of them is liable to make it very costly. It should be remembered that a 

 donkey-engine crew is a very high-priced crew, and that whenever the engine is 

 not running (in the case of a breakdown of the engine or cables or any of the tackle) 

 the wages of the whole crew still run on, although practically all of them are idle. 

 It can safely be said, although contrary to the common understanding, that to take 

 out even green stumps with a donkey-engine is a very expensive method of getting 

 rid of them. It is better in any case to allow the stumps to ripen ; that is, to become 



