and logs into great heaps, and once more the friendly fire helps out; and while the dusky woodlands are lighted up with passing glory the rancher sleeps to wake up and find his fields almost ready for his plow, nor has the task had half the hard labor nor consumed half the time that years ago would have been expended in clearing the same amount of oak and maple and hickory land in the valley [Page 36] of the Mississippi.  It should be said, however, that what is gained in time and saved in labor costs money.  The expense of clearing the logged-off land by these modern methods and tools will run from $40 to $150 per acre, dependent upon various conditions, number and size of stumps, etc.

There are in western Washington thousands of acres which are being pastured and tilled, from which the large stumps have not been removed.  In these instances the same methods can be used, handling all the small logs and stumps and litter, and after the first burning, carefully repiling and burning the refuse and then seeding to grass.  In the ashes and loose soil, grass seed readily starts, and a single season will suffice to provide fairly good pasturage, which will annually grow better.

COST OF LABOR AND MATERIAL.

The following table, taken from the report of a government inspector, will give an idea of the cost of the different materials and labor used in clearing logged-off land: 

Cost of removing stumps from 1 foot to 4 feet in diameter from 120 acres of land in 1907: 

=======================================================

===================
|        |        |       |         |       Labor. 
Month.          | Powder,| Fuse,  | Caps, | Stumps, |--------------------
|  lbs.  |  ft.   |  No.  |   No.   | Hours. | Dollars.
-----------------|--------|--------|-------|---------|------

--|-----------
June            | 13,700 | 10,100 | 2,400 |   2,135 |  2,380 |   $650.00
July            |  1,750 |  2,050 |   400 |     239 |    260 |     87.00
August          |  2,750 |  2,700 |   700 |     445 |    324 |    114.90
September       |  1,950 |  2,160 |   500 |     383 |    324 |    126.37
October         |  1,250 |  1,000 |   300 |     237 |    198 |     77.53
November        |  2,350 |  3,100 |   800 |     378 |    283 |    114.97
|--------|--------|-------|---------|--------|-----------
Total           | 23,750 | 21,100 | 5,100 |   3,818 |  3,709 | $1,170.77
Av. pr.  Stump   |   6.22 |   5.52 |  1.33 |         |  0.987 |    0.3006
Av.  Cost, cents |  19.76 |   2.37 |   .87 |         |        |
------------------------------------------------------------

--------------

The average cost of the removal of each stump is shown below: 

Cents.
Powder 49.76
Fuse 2.37
Caps .87
Labor 30.66
-----
Total 83.06

The average cost of the materials used was as follows:  Powder, per pound, 8 cents; fuse, per 100 feet, 43 cents; caps, per 100, 65 cents.