Methods of Clearing. 59 
advantage; in fact, there are now orchards upon land which was 
secured in the first instance for the charcoal to be made upon 
it. Usually, however, the clearing is an item of expense and 
must be reduced as much as possible by working in the most 
economical and effective way. 
Though in most cases of clearing by the actual settler him- 
self the problem is merely one of muscle and persistence, some 
few hints may be given from the experience of others which may 
be useful. Spare time during the summer and fall can often be 
used to advantage with a sharp ax in trimming up the smaller 
trees, which are large enough to yield fencing material, and get- 
ting out posts from the redwoods and oaks, and rails and pickets 
from the pines. By thus using the waste miaterial the settler 
can often get out enough fencing material to inclose his land 
and thus save considerable expense. Brush, too, which cannot 
be made use of can be lopped off—in short, all the sharp ax 
work can be done in a dry time. The actual clearing, however, 
should be done in the 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 prac- 
tise 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 encum- 
-bered character of the ground will, of course, prevent the use of 
the horse in cultivation 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 of land for orchard or vineyard is a very different 
thing from clearing for pasture, as is done in the redwood region 
ot the northwest Coast Ranges of the State, where the stumps 
are untouched; 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, arrangments made for irrigation and drainage, as will be 
considered later. 
