64 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



off the main lateral roots below the depth to which the plow will 

 reach. By thus reducing its anchorage the tree will topple over, 

 or may be pulled over with a team and tackle, and it will usually 

 lift out its stump quite effectively. 



A Steam Puller. An arrangement for tearing out trees without 

 digging has been used to some extent in Santa Cruz county, which 

 is said to handle redwood trees up to four feet in diameter success- 

 fully. It consists of a portable engine and a "puller," which is a 

 windlass operated by steam, from which a wire cable is carried to 

 the tree which is to be pulled down. A strong chain is put around 

 the tree at a distance above the ground proportioned to its diam- 

 eter in such a way as to give necessary leverage. The immensely 

 strong hook at the end of the cable is attached to this chain and 

 the cable is slowly wound upon the reel. The coil begins to grow 

 taut, a dull creak and strain are heard as the roots begin to be 

 torn from the earth. Two chains are used, a second tree being 

 prepared while the first is falling, that no time may be lost. The 

 cable is detached from the falling tree, and a horse draws it from 

 amid the debris of fallen foliage to the next victim. The extraction 

 of roots by this method of pulling is said to be very complete, and 

 the earth is loosened to a considerable depth. 



Powerful traction engines, manufactured for hauling combined 

 harvesters and steam plows, have also been very successfully used 

 for the removal of large trees in land clearing. 



Horse-Power Stump Pullers. The use of horse-power devices 

 for tree felling and stump extraction has increased considerably 

 of late. The one which has achieved good results is a local invention 

 called the "California Stump Puller." It is simply a specially- 

 designed capstan worked by one horse, with a wire cable five- 

 eighths of an inch in diameter, an improved snatch block, chains, 

 and a drafthook to unite the cable with the chains. Power is 

 applied to the capstan with a sweep. It is calculated that with 

 this device, properly adjusted, one horse is enabled to produce an 

 effect equal to the capacity of 60 horses without it, and that a 1,200- 

 pound horse which can move a dead weight of one and a half tons 

 for a short distance can move a dead weight of 90 tons with the 

 devices employed in the machine. It is so rapidly adjustable that 

 on one trial in Napa county eighteen stumps were pulled in eight- 

 een minutes, long roots coming clear out of the ground with each 

 stump. 



The Use of Powder. Another means for the removal both of 

 stumps and of growing trees which has come into quite wide use 

 during the last few years, is high explosives, which have vastly 

 cheapened the clearing of lands where either large trees or stumps 

 have to be removed. Full instructions for the use of powder are 



