METHODS OP LAND CLEARING 



63 



useful. Spare time during the summer and fall can often be used 

 to advantage with a sharp axe in trimming up the smaller trees, 

 which are large enough to yield fencing material, and getting out 

 posts from the redwoods and oaks, and rails and pickets from the 

 pines. By thus using the waste material the settler can often get 

 out enough fencing material to inclose his land and thus save 

 considerable expense. Brush, too, which can not be made use of, 

 can be lopped off in short, all the sharp axe work can be done in 

 a dry time. The actual clearing, however, should be done in 

 winter, when the ground is wet and soft, and digging is easy or 

 "snaking out" is possible. 



Partial and Thorough Clearings. Orchards are planted on both 

 partially and thoroughly cleared land. By the former practice 

 clearing enough is done to give space for the tree holes, the debris 

 is burned up, and the trees planted. In this kind of work the 

 stumps are left to be taken out at a convenient season, the object 

 being to get fruit trees to growing as soon as possible. Where 

 one is working with little more than his own muscle, and has no 

 capital, this sort of planting is better, perhaps, than not planting 

 at all, but it must be borne in mind that all subsequent work will 

 be done at a great disadvantage, and as cultivation is likely to be 

 very imperfect, it would be a question whether in the end anything 

 would be gained by such a plan. The encumbered character of 

 the ground will, of course, prevent the use of the horse in cultiva- 

 tion until most of the stumps are removed. Aside from this, 

 decaying stumps and roots in the soil often kill the young trees; 

 especially is this the case with old oak stumps. 



Clearing land for orchard or vineyard is a very different thing 

 from clearing for pasture, as is done in the redwood region of the 

 northwest Coast Ranges of the State, where the stumps are un- 

 touched; the trees not taken by the lumberman are girdled and 

 left a prey to decay and storms, and the brush slashed and burned 

 every few years to prevent it from completely taking possession 

 of the land. Clearing for fruit should be thorough, everything 

 which will interfere with good cultivation removed; roots grubbed 

 so that as little shooting up as possible is secured; the ground 

 evened up to obviate standing water, and, where needed, arrange- 

 ments made for irrigation and drainage, as will be considered later. 



Removal of Trees. The first operation in clearing will be the 

 removal of the trees. This can be partly done in the dry season 

 if one has unemployed time. In such case the tree is felled and 

 worked up into fire-wood and the stump left for subsequent treat- 

 ment when the ground is moist. Unless there is idle time to 

 employ, the whole work can, however, be better done in the winter, 

 for then the top of the tree may be made to help pull out its own 

 roots. This is done sometimes by digging out the soil and cutting 



