LEVELLING THE CLEARED LAND 27 
But then, again, the sod from sandy soil tends to crumble 
to pieces, letting the sand trickle in amongst the fire. 
Charpitting would seem, therefore, to be a method better 
suited for clayey soils. 
Another method of burning the stumps in situ is to 
bore holes under the stump (this can be done by the same 
engine), insert iron pipes turned up at the end to act as 
blowpipes, and force draught or air down them from a 
fan or blower driven by a gasolene engine. By employing 
this method—which, however, is hardly likely to com- 
mend itself to the small orchardist or the inexperienced 
settler—stumps from 24 to 5 feet in diameter are burned 
out at a cost of $1.60 to $3 each, say an average cost 
of $2.30 (=10s. each). 
LEVELLING aND Breaxine.—Having cleared all im- 
pediments off the land, your next procedure will be to 
level it to some extent by drawing over it a harrow or 
some sort of home-made scraper. In many cases this 
will be sufficient. There are cases in which a large road. 
shovel would be useful, but generally an implement of 
that kind is not readily obtainable, and the rancher has 
to proceed without it. 
Levelling is followed by ploughing or breaking the land. 
On the light loam, so characteristic of British Columbia, if 
the ground has been well harrowed first both ways, with 
such an implement as a spring-toothed harrow, the task 
of breaking is not so very difficult or formidable. 
Having got our land broken, and once again levelled 
by harrowing, we are in a position to begin the work of 
actually making our orchard. 
The soil of British Columbia is, as a general rule, lacking 
