40 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



hand, giving it one or two sharp pushes down with the same 

 stick; put a few handfuls of earth above, and any forty or 

 Mtj pound rock at hand on that ; then, on firing, stand a 

 good distance from the hole, as the rocks fly more than with 

 common powder. There is capacity in this explosive which 

 is wanting in gunpowder, — that of blasting a rock by put- 

 ting it on the surface when any appearance of a seam can be 

 detected. 



I have had bowlders weighing ten tons, and very solid and 

 hard ones too, knocked all to pieces without any hole having 

 been drilled in them, the first attack being made in a small 

 crevice just large enough to receive a quarter of a pound of 

 rend-rock, which was plastered in there by hand, just like so 

 much mortar. This " strained " an opening into the rock ; 

 and twa more blasts finished the monster, reducing him into 

 pieces so small, that a single horse could handle the largest 

 one. The capacity of smashing into smaller pieces, I find 

 one of the good traits of rend-rock. The extra power be- 

 comes of value in enabling one to do in a single blast what 

 gunpowder would require two to accomplish. I had two 

 such instances tliis morning, where fragments of two very 

 large bowlders were left in their respective holes that were 

 too near the surface, and needed removal : cartridges of rend- 

 rock thrust between them did the work capitally when there 

 was not working-surface sufficient for powder to have done 

 any work. As to any extra danger from this compound, 

 there is none to any man of common prudence, who knows 

 how to treat a cow as a cow, and a horse as a horse. Full 

 instructions, with necessary precautions, come with the ma- 

 terial ; and, if desired, a man is sent to give practical illus- 

 trations. 



Having reduced our bowlders to fragments that cattle can 

 handle, what shall we do with them ? For myself I have no 

 market for them. Having used up all needed for cellars, there 

 still remain thousands of tons to be handled. INIy way of 

 handling them is set forth in the wisdom of the old proverb, 

 "Make one hand wash the other." I need, as every farmer 

 does or should need, more or less soil for my compost-heaps, 

 amounting to some hundreds of cords annually. Having 

 used all the waste that ditches and other resources afforded, 

 I was driven to my pasture-land, and had begun to make 



