DYNAMITING STUMPS AND TREE HOLES 



CHE problem of stump removal is an ever recurrent one when farmers 

 are developing new territory or are endeavoring to utilize the entire 

 acreage of their farms. The richness of the forest soil is a constant 

 incentive to clear the land and make it available for cultivation, but the 

 question is, what is the best and cheapest way to remove the stumps? The 

 principal methods now in use are pulling with stumping machines, burning 

 out and blasting out with dynamite. 



The stump puller has its advocates who prefer it over either method 

 and others who do not consider it economical. Apparently it is entirely a 

 question of condition. Those who have carefully investigated the subject 

 seem to be of the opinion that where a large number of small stumps are 

 to be removed it pays to invest in a stump puller, provided, however, that 

 only the cost of removing the stumps is to be considered. 



The various schemes for burning out stumps are all open to one great 

 objection, that is that the burning of a stump does not remove or even loosen 

 up any of the roots, but it does destroy the humu^ in the soil, and causes 

 barren spots for a year or so after the stump is burned out. 



EFFECT OF DYNAMITING 



Eecent investigations of the use of dynamite for stump removal show 

 that this is fully as economical as any other method with the possible excep- 

 tion of very small stumps, and for large stumps the advantages in its use are 

 very great. In the western or coast states where large trees are the rule, 

 dynamite is commonly employed for this purpose and practically every farmer 

 or farmer's boy is a practical blaster. They handle this high explosive with- 

 out accident because they have found it no more dangerous than the ordinary 

 shotgun or gasoline. It is simply one of those things that has to be handled 

 with horse sense and ordinary care. 



The process is very simple. A hole is bored underneath the stump with 

 a large dirt auger; the hole being usually at an angle of 45 degrees to the 

 ground. A dynamite cartridge is primed with a fulminate cap which has 

 been crimped on to the end of a fuse and the cartridge is then shoved down 

 to the bottom of the hole and tamped in with some damp earth. A match is 

 applied to the fuse which is long enough to give the farmer plenty of time 

 to get away for 150 feet or so, and shortly after there is a boom and the 

 stump is blown clear of the earth and shattered into firewood. 



Investigation of the hole shows the roots torn loose from the earth for a 

 radius of about two yards from the stump, and nearly all the dirt that ad- 

 joined the stump roots has fallen back into the hole after the blast. The 

 stump parts themselves are found free from dirt as the blast clears them off 



254 



