CLKAKI.\<; IJrsn L.\\i>s IN I'.IMTISH ( '<u.i .MT.IA. 33 



partially rotten. Under any circumstances the smallest area which it would be 

 worth while to stump with ;i donkey-engine would be 40 acres, and that is little 

 enough. The cost of getting the donkey to the site, setting up the gin-pole, etc., is 

 so heavy that there should really be more than 40 acres. If there is only 40 acres, 

 then the distance from the previous job should not be over half a mile; otherwise 

 there is too much money spent in preliminary work. Another very common error 

 is in getting a donkey-engine crew or logging crew from a logging camp. The work 

 is entirely different in u logging camp. Loggers are notoriously a somewhat care- 

 less lot. Speed in getting out the logs is everything and the wreck and ruin left 

 behind is quite a secondary matter. In clearing land for farming purposes, while 

 speed is, of course, important, it is necessary to do everything thoroughly. Apart 

 from the man running the engine, the most suitable crew for this purpose would be 

 men who had had previous experience in logging with horses and blocks and tackle. 

 The actual cost, however, of clearing land with donkey-engines is a very much 

 disputed point; but even under most favourable conditions that is, where there is 

 no standing timber and where the area is large, where the timber has been cut 

 some time and where there is a well-drilled crew it is safe to say that the cost 

 to complete the stumping so that the land is ready for grading and ploughing will 

 rarely be less than $200 an acre, and often far more, and this puts clearing by this 

 method out of sight for ordinary farm purposes, particularly as a large amount 

 of cash would have to be found by the settler, who is generally none too well supplied 

 with this very necessary article. If the clearing has been done in the way outlined 

 in previous pages up to the stumping, it is safe to say that the actual stumping can 

 be done by other methods at a figure far below this, besides which it costs very 

 little in actual cash, powder being the chief item of expense, and it can be done a 

 little at a time as opportunity and means are available. Some of the different 

 methods will now be referred to. 



CHAR-PITTING. 



This system of taking out stumps has not been employed very extensively in 

 British Columbia. It was for a period very popular in Washington and Oregon, and 

 it has been tried here and found very successful under certain conditions, but these 

 conditions are not by any means universal. It is applicable to old-growth stumps 

 only, and again only to fir and spruce stumps; cedar, hemlock, cottonwood, and 

 balsam do not char-pit successfully. The soil also must be just right a good clay 

 loam or. what is better still, a stiffish clay. Sandy soil is almost hopeless, as the 

 sand falls in and puts out the fire. It is no use attempting to char-pit second-growth 

 fir, no matter how large. 



With the right kind of stumps and the right soil, the method is as follows: A 

 sniMll fire of odds and ends of sticks or anything that will burn is built. One- or 

 two pieces of cordwood cut up into small pieces are a good start. These are all 

 piled up in a fork of the roots, against the main trunk, first clearing away all soil 

 from the roots where the fire is to be made. Light the fire and keep it going for 

 fifteen or twenty minutes until you have got a bed of hot coals. Do not make the 

 fire too big, but keep feeding it until the trunk of the stump itself has caught. Then 

 cover this up with upended sticks of moderate size. Then, as quickly as possible, 

 cover up with sods and on top of these clay. Then gradually bank up with sods and 

 clay the whole stump up to about 3 feet in height, including any large roots project- 

 in- from the side and rising above the ground. One man can attend to several 

 slumps, as they will burn from a few days to a couple of weeks. The fire should 

 not be allowed to break out, but should be always kept well covered up. It will take 

 a little practice for any one to get on to this system properly, but the system is 

 certainly a great saver of labour and of powder, particularly if the land has 

 been already logged and there are not many large pieces of wood to help in burn- 

 ing the stumps by the open-fire .method. It will probably be found that there 



