10 BULLETIN 91, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
is required with this type. The vertical-lift machines are more pow- 
erful and seem to require less repairs than the average capstan 
machine. On the other hand, the machine must be moved for each 
stump, requiring four or five horses. Holes must be dug under the 
roots of each stump. 
POWER MACHINES. 
Power machines have been used to a limited degree throughout 
this region. On large tracts of land, with a good outfit and an effi- 
cient crew, the clearing probably can be done with a power machine 
as cheaply as and considerably faster than by any other method in 
use at the present time. 
COST OF CLEARING LAND. 
The cost of clearing land in the Lake States varies greatly. It 
runs from $5 to about $100 per acre. The cut-over jack-pine land 
is the cheapest to clear and green hardwood and unburned swamp 
land the most expensive. The cost of clearmg depends on the fol- 
lowing factors: 
(1) The quantity of second growth and logs per acre: The cost of disposing of these 
runs from $5 to $25 per acre, and even higher, with an average of about $10. 
(2) The kind of stumps and the number of years since logging: All green hardwood 
stumps are very expensive to remove. Green birch and basswood are perhaps the 
most difficult. Most hardwoods decay so that they can easily be removed within 10 
years from the time of logging, provided the sprout growth is not allowed to develop. 
Jack pine and hemlock will decay at about the same rate as hardwood. Scrub oak is 
more resistant to decay than the other hardwoods. White pine and Norway pine will 
not decay in 50 years. The cost of removing pine stumps from 5 years to 25 years after 
logging is practically the same. 
(3) The size and number of stumps per acre: The number of white-pine stumps per 
acre varies from 10 to 100, with an average of about 45. Some hardwood lands have 
more than 400 stumps per acre. Some contractors taking work by the job count the 
stumps and then add 10 per cent to the number to cover those that were overlooked or 
burned close to the ground. It usually is more expensive to remove severely burned 
white-pine stumps than it is toremove a sound stump. For this reason any system of 
burning that will not burn the roots below plow depth does not reduce the cost of stump- 
ing. A pretty close approximation of the average number of stumps per acre may be 
obtained by counting the number of stumps on several sampleacres. A circle of 117.8 
feet radius contains an area of 1 acre. A rapid and convenient method is to stand 
on a stump and count all the stumps within 118 feet of it. 
(4) Soiland topography: Where stump-pulling machines are used, the cost of stump- 
ing in sandy soils is less than in heavier soils. Where dynamite is used, the cost in 
heavier soils is less than in sandy soils. On many tracts the land was swampy at the 
time of the tree growth, and the rooting system was consequently shallow. Aiter the 
tract shown in figure 8 was logged, fires burned off all the litter and most of the humus, 
leaving nearly all of the roots exposed. On many such areas a heavy team will tip 
out most of the stumps by a direct pull. For this reason this type of clearing is not 
usually expensive. (See ‘’Tract No. 20,’ p. 22.) Itis more expensive to pull stumps 
on steep land than it ison level land. It is more expensive to stump stony land than 
land free from stones, because the cleaning of the stumps is more difficult. 
1 See Thompson, Harry, Cost and methods of clearing land in western Washington, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 239, 60 p., 25 fig., 1912, for use of power machines for 
Jand clearing. 
