Oneida grew up along the creek and the old canal line, on flat ground where farm maples and dooryard elms had room to get enormous. Big Earl's Stump Removal is who gets the call when one of them is done: tree removal first, in sections if the house stands close, and then the stump ground out so grass can be laid back over the hole. Tree trimming is winter work in this town — bare crowns, frozen ground, no flower bed to think about under the ladder. A stump left standing is a mower's enemy for years; ground out, the lawn closes over it by the second summer and the corner of the yard comes back for good.