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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Removing Stumps at Moderate Cost J. L. Ashlock, of the Washington State College, Gives Much Valuable Information. WHAT is the poor mas ' way of re moving stumpef In the Pacific ' Coast states, in the states flank ing and including the Rocky mountains, from the Lakes to the Uulf, and from Maine to Florida, there are people who want to know. And yet, since men commenced the practice of felling whole forests where ever it was convenient to do so and the law did not forbid, numerous ways have been devised for getting rid of stumps. Horses, oxen and mules have been used to drag them out ofthe ground. Engines have been similarly used, either uproot ing the stumps by direct pull, or oper ating lifting cranes. Blasting powder has been employed to split and loosen them in order that they may be lifted or dragged out. But none of these methods do for the poor man; and generally it is the poor man who seeka the stump-bound fron tier for the purpose of making a home. Because he is poor, to do his work he must at first resort to primitive means. These in the case of logged-off land to be cleared are his bare hands, fire and his ax. An ax of some sort, though but a Club weighted at one end with a wedge shaped stone, has been obtainable by men in all known ages. Fire is for the free use of every man who can find fuel, which is generally plentiful in for est clearings. Hands are a part of man himself, hence are his nearest-by and most dependable means of doing things. So these three resources are within reach of every able-bodied man, rich or poor; and the question is, "Can any man in the single lifetime that is his remove stumps from enough acres of land to make a good sized farm" i. Results of. Investigation. '.Investigations that have recently been made in the logged-off districts of Washington and Oregon promise a way of removing stomps which is within feach of every man, rich or poor. In deed, fhe method is more than a prom ise, and has passed the experimental stage; for bulletins are now in posses sion which in the immediate future will be sent far and wide throughout stnmp dom, explaining how, by a simplo pro cess of burning, the roots of a big stump can be turned into charcoal. That finishes the stump so far as its obstruc tion to farming is concerned. ' In the idea of charcoal-burning there is nothing new. For many centuries the production of charcoal has been understood and practiced among both civilized and uncivilized people. In Sweden it is made from rectangnlar piles of wood the process being regu lated by the careful admission of air through holes in the coverings over the wood. In China charcoal is prepared in pits, preferably in clay soils. In most countries where wood is abundant, charcoal-burning is carried on by fir ing conical piles of billets of wood from a central hole or chimney. Charcoal is used as a fuel, and as a reducing agent in metallurgy. It is used in the manufacture of filters, and may be administered as a medicine in some cases of dyspepsia. On account of the resistance of charcoal to the action of water, stakes for wet soils and the inside of easks are charred previous to use. Chickens eat charcoal and most poultrymen know its value for main taining the health of their birds. So charcoal is a well known product, having value for many different pur poses and tha methods of its production are well known, and have been known for many centuries. But in all that time the fact that! charcoal-burning could be used to destroy stumps as big as they grow, was overlooked. " Underground Fires. Manifold are .the illustrations which many of us have seen, indicating plain ly that fire will burn under tho ground if properly controlled. Engineers nave often observed that logs which have keen laid down in swampy land for the first bed of a railroad will burn under the grade when the protruding ends dry out sufficiently to eatch Jre in dry sea eons. In Alaska, old logs which are im bedded in the frown gravel are burned by bnilding a little fire against the ex posed end of the log and regulating the burning so that as it proceeds the froi- en gTavel will thaw and fall down, thus keeping the fire lightly covered all the while. Tn burnt-over clearings it is a common sight to see here and there a stump which for some reason had burn ed down into the ground. Each of the cases cited is an example of fire working precisely in the way it works when burning underground in the roots of a big stump. Twenty years ago a settler in the western part of Oregon allowed a con siderable amount of litter to collect in a pile near his barn, which, during a dry season, caught fire and burned. The man noticed that where the litter had been piled around an old stump the fire continued to burn for several weeks. His curiosity was aroused, and upon in vestigating he discovered that the stump had been transformed into a bed of charcoal. The largest roots had been consumed in this way several feet underground. However, much of the force of this lesson was lost for the time being. Men in that neighborhood who saw what had occurred later attempted to fire stumps by heaping straw, brush and other in flammable material over them, and their endeavors failed quite naturally, since charcoal-burning is not effected by an open flame. Taught by a Sea Captain. Fortunately a man heard of the oc currence who knew something of the behavior of fire when burning under ground. He was an old sea captain, E. C. Cruse by name, and is now living near Castle Eock, Washington. Cruse, after a great deal of experimenting, succeeded in firing stumps. He taught Harry Yount, of Woodland, Washing ton, how to do it. Others learned tne trick, so that two years ago there were in northwestern Oregon and western Washington perhaps a dozen men who knew fairly well how to kindle a fire which would burn a stump root and base. A singular fact is that np to the very recent development of the method, not enough interest could be aroused to in duce neighbors of the few Successful men to learn the process and use it in their own clearings. This lack of in terest was certainly not due to any lack of stumps. In the summer of 1909 H. W. Sparks, who had just been elected supervisor of demonstration farms or, the State Col lege of Washington, was on a tour through the timbered eountics ox west ern Washington, and while in Wood land saw Harry Tount burning stumps. Sparks like many other men, had al ways believed that fire is tne natural means with which to destroy stumps, But he had never been able to kindle a fire so that it would destroy a stump root and all. Many times he had seen a fire follow a piece of timber far un dereround, but it had never occurred to him that such timber could as wen be, so far as the fire was concerned, the basest root of a stump. But the idea dawned upon him with force when he saw what Harry Yount was doing. Legislative Appropriations. The eleventh session of the Washing ton legislature met during the winter Of 1909, but instead of appropr iting lunds to the state agricultural experi ment station (which is an arm of the State College of Washington), for the purpose of investigating the loggea-on land nroblem. nassed Senate Bill 146, which authorized the U. o.. Bureau oi Plant Industry to spend as much as $5,000. for this purpose from, funds oi the State of Washington, imposing the cond tion that the Bureau should dupn cute tho amount thus expended by ex penditures from its own congressional nnnronriations. The twelfth session convened during the winter of 1911 and failed to make any appropriation wnat ever for logged of f lands. The indif ference thus exhibited probably pro- ceeas irom ino same Bureau ui numau nature which Yonnt and Cruse and oth ers had contended with when tbey sought to induce their neighbors to como and bo shown how to rid their land of stumps by a poor man's meth od. However, in one way o- another, part of the time by working in co-operation with the V. 8. Bureau of Plant Indus try, and part of the time making spe cial provisions, the State College has for the past two years kept Sparks pret ty steadily at work among the stumps. Sparks commenced his investigations on the theory that the process he had seen succeed in the Yount clearings at Woodland, was approximately correct for the particular soil and climatic con- j ditions of that locality. He therefore learned thoroughly the method used by the Woodland people, expecting to in troduce it into other regions with such variations as the changed conditions should justify. Method of Burning. Here is the way they did it in the Yount clearings: - Chop the baTk from the lower part of the stump. Take some dry wood broken in 18-inch lengths or nearly so, and stand the pieces around the stump, placing the finer and more combustible sticks underneath. On the windward side of the stump, leave a place for an opening in the covering over the wood, by placing against the pile two pieces of bark or wood with the upper ends meet ing and the lower ends about 12 inches apart on the ground. In the triangle thus formed, pile fine chips and shav ings for kindling a little pitch is good. Arrange it so that the pitchy kindling leads into the interior of the pile. This will secure a quick start when the fire is lighted. Having arranged the wood as indi cated, take some soil (that containing a good percentage of clay is prefer able) and cover the pile clear around the stump with the exception of the triangular space where the fire is to be started. Lay each shovelful very care fully against the wood, placing the first bottom tier around the stump quite loosely. Do not permit the earth to sift down into the wood and shavings. Put the upper tiers of shovelfuls on very compactly. The "collar" around the stump should be made especially tight. Light the fire in the triangular open ing already described. If the directions just given have been carefully followed. the fire will burn into the pile, at first consuming the chips and kindling under the larger sticks, then spreading to all the wood around the stump. When the fire is burning clear around, and smoke is issuing rrom the pile, close the trian gular opening with loose earth. As tne fire continues to burn slowly, the pile settles evenly all the way around. Where breaks occur in the covering, close them with more earth. When the smoke issuing from the cover is blue, too much air is reaching the lire, and the charcoal is being consumed, which is undesirable, so put on more cover. When the smoke is white and steamy, moving upward in a sluggish way, charcoal is being made of the stump, which is tne desired thing. From this point on, the fire, if prop erly controlled, will work into the base of the stump. Where a big root is en countered, the fire will first burn straight through it, and, upon striking the soil on the opposite side, follows down the under side of the root, grad ually working to the upper part which it finally reaches. In this slow way tne base of the stump and the big roots for several feet underground will be turned into charcoal. When the base of the stump is en tirely consumed, the upper part falls over. The break in the covering thus made is lightly covered with earth. Burning will continue in the toots un til they are pretty well destroyed. Then if it is desired to consume the cnarcoai, the cover is opened, and total combus tion is speedy and complete. The soil next to the stump and the roots is not injured by the fire, except a small spot just under the crown of the Btump where the excessive heat sometimes causes the forming of a "clinker." (To be continued.) June Forecast . ... i i THE month of June will no uouoi oe a very eventful one. On the first Uuerta will eliminate liimsen long . . . , . .v j.i.i, v;iio enougn to ias auoiuer . will take time to shoot a few hundred federals, while on the fifth Teddy will relegate all the disbelievers of his river . story to the Ananias Club. The moon will be full on the seventh and Huerta will be full on the eighth. The balloon ascension at Portland will take place on the eleventh. Congress will adjourn on the thirtieth and go in search ot we Monroe Doctrine and votes for re elec tion. - - . June this year, according to all signs, will be warmer than January. There will be considerable rain if it stays cloudy. During this month the col leges will turn out graduates resembling mushroons, who will go forth and teach the younger generation how to tango and smoke cigarettes properly. Yea, verily, the month of June wm be eventful. The Sunday schools hold picnics out. in the leafy wood, the children stuff thir svstenis with everything that's good, the minister get mushy with the leaders of the choir, until tho yaller jackots puncture his sacred tire. The teacher of the miant ciass geis uauucu with deviled egg, while a horrid, hun gry wood-tick burrows in her tender limb. In Juno the rose is flinging all its fragranco on the air; the turtle doves are cooing and a-wooing every where. The maiden haunts the ham mock, while her lover lingers nigh, while her mother from the window watches with suspicious eye, the summer girl is wearing her most trans parent dress, and as to her anatomy, one doesn't have to guess. The hens take a vacation and desist from laying eggs, and the girls who go a-swimming, all strive to show theiT skill. The lightning bugs and army worm, the currant slugs and such, have seized the vegetables and hold them in their clutch. The anta are in the cupboard, and they revel in the jam, while the roaches cock their noses up and don't seem to care a cent. In June life is one glad sweet song for the farmer boy. He arises from his downy couch when the first faint streaks of dawn appears in the east. He goes out and hears the morning stars singing together. He wakes up the rooster perched on the plow handle and makes him salute the flag, men no whistles the Mrery Widow waltz as he hustles to the barn to curry the mules and anoint their sore shoulders with axle grease. His soul is full of lunshine when he remembers that Jonn . D. Rockefeller, Woodrow Wilson and Ty Cobb were the sons of the knighted farmer and danced tho tango behind a wooden harrow and stubbed their toe . on last year's corn stalks when they were boys on the farm, . ."'-: By June 30th we expect HI Gill 'a broken bones are to be mended enough to allow him to issue a proclamation on . the latest and correct wcy to tango and also calling on the Loyal Sons of the Great Tyee to attend the Fotlatch, but poor Oregon is bound to suffer while Gov. West and the state militia go to , California to close up Mt. Lassen which is on another rampage. Yea, verily, the month of June will be eventful. The New York state forest nurseries have a capacity of 28 million young trees a year. FOR YOUR DEN 5 Beautiful College Pennants Yale and Harvard, Each 9 In. z 24 la, Princeton, Cornell, Michigan Each 7 In. x 21 In. All best quality felt with felt head ing, streamers, letters and mascot ex ecuted in proper colors. 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