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About Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1903-1919 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Suggestions on Clearing Land GLEARING land is the biggest proposition that the farmer or land holder of the northwest is tip against. This applies especially to the region west of the Cascade mountains. Probably no other one thing has served more to retard the flevelopment of this region than the tremendous cost in labor, time and money of getting the land cleared and ready for cultivation. Any sug gestion or method that will save oven a small amount per acre should mean a great deal in the aggregate. My experience In land clearing in the northwest is limited but I have cleared and superintended the clear ing of hundreds of acres in the hardwood regions of Missouri, also the pine land country of Alabama and, while conditions In those states are qultr different from those in this country, still, I think out of that experience 1 can offer Bonie suggestions that will be helpful to the man who Is up against land clearing in this country. Of course, no method or sugges tion can be made to apply indiscrim inately to all kinds and conditions of land clearing, but each man may discern which suggestions. If any, are applicable to his eHpecial piece of clearing. To the man with second-growth timber, or timber too small to be of commercial value, my method of clearing pine lands In the south may offer some helpful suggestions. For that country It simply cut the cost in half. I proceeded as fol lows: Preliminaries. In early midsummer the begin ning of good drying weather 1 went Into the timber with a force of men, pairing them to right hand and left hand choppers, -and asslgn ing to each Dalr a strln of about 20 foot wide, theBe strips par alleling each other across the land to be cleared. The men were In structed to cut all trees nearly to the point of falling, until they had gone some distance, when each pair of choppers was given the signal to throw a tree In the direction from which they had come. I will add that all trees had been cut in fall behind them, as grass behind ino mower. This was enBy while the timber was straight and the weather usually calm at that sea sou of tho year. At the given signal each nalr of chnnnnr wm.M fell a tree us nearly slmul(aneounly as consistent, and as the timber was thick these trees, utrlkln others, caused whole areas. Rftmn- timos amounting to an acre or two, to fall. This Insured, first, the easy felling of all trees In the same di rection, and at the same time with loss labor than if each tree had been foiled separately. The treo trunks all lay parallel and not tan gled up. Thus was greatly lessened the subsequent work of piling tho poles for burning, after slashing had been fired. In this way the slashing was quickly done and the trees loft to dry Just as they fell. Right here Is a point, If all limbs are loft on the trees the sap will be pumped out of the trunks In a fraction of the time It would take the sun to dry It out. This Insures a much bolter burn. Having the timber distributed uniformly over the ground Instead of piled Insures a more uniform destruction of briars and othor small growth at firing time. I let this dry as long and as thoroughly as weathor condi tions would permit; then, with a force of men stationed at Intervals around the slashing, I gavo the signal ft revolver shotto begin firing; each man to fire to the right of him until he reached the point whore the next one began. This tave me quickly a circle of fire around the entire slashing which, In reasonably calm weather, causes a current of air from circumference to center of slashing. This air current quickly became almost a gale from ail sides of the slashing towards tho eenter. The burn was oompleto and thorough, nothing much being loft except the trunks of the trees which were easily ricked Into wtnrows and burned. I'lilllng Stumps. In this country elimination of the stumps is the biggest item. Here, as there, I find many decayed stumps, especially in the logged-off lands, which, if properly handled, can be burned out entirely with little addi tional work by burning trash upon them. These stumps are usually coated with a punky substance hav ing great capacity for holding water. With the first firing, if done at the driest time, most of these stumps will be stripped of this punky coat ing, leaving the harder interior por tions now exposed to sun and air. If this slashing, and firing of some, can be done a year or two in advance of the bulk of the grubbing, several advantages may be gained. On the second year dry time it will be found that those stumps so exposed will fall a much easier prey to fire than at the first burning, remnants from the slashing fire being used to burn about these stumps. Another practice I have found good here and elsewhere, is this: Where it is fea sible sow the land in grasB, clover preforably, as early after the slash ing - fire as consistent. This will serve several good purposes; the clover, being a legume, will prove a good soil builder and make good pasture if desired. If a good Btand . is secured It will smother briars and I other small wild growth, subduing them to a considerable extent. I have also found that clover will greatly hasten the decay of stumps, making tho work of grubbing much easier when you get around to it. A. J. Miller. pounds of grain, the tankage enables them to pay 22.1 cents more per hundred or $4.66 per ton. If the pigs were only paving market prices for grain when fed grain alone, this 14.66 may justly be counted as a feeder's profit in addition to which the tankage has added a very con siderable item to the fertilizing value of the manure. WELL DRILLING Geo. E. Scott, Contractor city, sailsoas jtd eabch weuu t it dCH AIM Brlof sad Bunding BoonttBf P. a Box Ul, FwOud, Ore. P. 0. Box SM P. 0. Box TQ Sola. Or. HdttmnOlo, Oa Light Your Home with a Magic light At Less Cost and Danger Than Oil The Under Ground System, SUNSHINE AT NIGHT IN EVERY ROOM Gas for Cooking. IM Us Tell you All About It A Fost Card Brings Full Information. THKDA. BROS. CO, 618 Dekum Bldg Portland, Oregon. The Kind that Grow "You CAN'T Keep Them In The Ground" SEND FOR CATALOGUE J I RI TT717D 188-190 Front St J. DU 1 ZuIlttS. Portland, Oregon Grain Fed Hogs By O. H. Rtimon, Tnfltrttrtor In Animal ilitalmmlry, O. A. C. (fllM-iiul tn tho Farm Mugailne.) AT THIS present price of grain and hogs, hog feeding looks a little discouraging. If a man has 600 bushels of grain and his pigs re turn only one-hundred woight for four-hundred sixty pounds of grain consumed, the pigs are returning little more than miller's prices for the grain. To be sure the feeder has some of tho valuable part of the grain loft in the form of the fertil izing constituents In the manure, but some feeders have not learned that there Is any value attached to this product. Mont feeders Inslnt on a feeder's profit over and above that Inherent in the manure. How to do this without securing a higher price for hogs Is a problem which many aro asking the Experiment Station to solve. While there are many problems connected Willi pig feeding on which the Exporiment Station Is still laboring and will yet have to work out this one at least is largely solved. When grain Is fed alone snmo of It Is not utilized to the best Advant age by the pigs because the pigs re quire something to put with the grain to cnablo them to make tho most complete use of the grain. That Is, tho gruln does not contain all the Ingredients In just the cor rect proportion to suit the pigs needs. The Ingredient which Is de ficient In tho grain Is the nlbumen ous or nitrogenous one commonly culled protein. A pound and a half of Hltlm-mllk or buttormllk with each pound of grain fed niakos It possible for the pigs to make much more comploto uso of the grain. In the ab.sonce of milk or In case an Insufficient quantity of it la available, tankage In the cheapest thing on tho market to make the grain more efficient. At 150 per ton, 10-pounds of tankage to 90 pounds of grain will Increase the cost of a hundred pounds of feed by ten cents but it will make that hundred pounds of feed produce 2.GG pounds more pork, which at 7c per pound amounts to I18.G5 per hundred, In othor words the feeder nearly doubles on every cent which ho puts Into tnnknge and feeds lu tho proportion suggested. In terms of returns per hundred pounds of gain on the hogs, the feeder se cures 87 cent more when he feeds tanknge than when be feeds straight grain, In terras of the price which lb pigs return for 100- sill IT S jnr 7 i' BUSH & LANE Pianos Stand The Test --j of Time Hurt A Lane Pianoe ere built to nitln tbe ropn tatlon wo horo apent year In eatablliMne;. Tble regulation (or piano quality Include- erery detail of loperlorlty tone action durability, etc Wa bark thi claim with a fuarantoe ai broad aa It Is binding. You MUST be laUifled. Soma exceptional valuea In itandard rianoi taken n trade for $100 and up. Bush & Lane Piano Co Waa.iintfton street, Cor. of 12tlL S MANUFAOTUREHS Mm Ho tut tt OrigtmJm ... 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