394 EDITORIAL NOTES. [Apeil, 



pasture, and lists of selected prize roots, seeds, seed potatoes, seed 

 grains, &c., and a treatise on insect pests. Messrs. James Dickson 

 and Sons, of the Newton Nurseries, Chester, send us their list of ' farm 

 seeds,' with information as to sowing, illustrations of special roots, 

 lists of grass seeds, clovers, and a score of other things suited to all 

 farming, garden, and general horticultural needs. 



* 



We have also to acknowledge The Science Monthly for March— a 

 good number ; The Indian Forester for January and February — pub- 

 lications which shall have more full attention later on, as shall also 

 Progress Reports of Forest Administration in the Punjaub for 1882-3, 

 and in Bengal for 1882-3. We have also received the Annual Eeport 

 of the Proceedings of the Sussex Association for the Improvement of 

 Agriculture for the Season 1883. 



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Root Blasting. — A series of very interesting experiments with dynamite 

 recently took place on the Kilsall Hall estate, near Shifnal, the seat of Mr. 

 Daniel Jones. The family, together with numerous visitors, were present to 

 witness the operations, which were superintended by Mr. Thomas Johnson, 

 Tower Street, Dudley, managing agent for the Explosives Company (Limited), 

 London. Since the introduction in 1871, of dynamite as a powerful blasting 

 agent it has been extensively used for agricultural purposes. Landowners and. 

 farmers, who have been troubled witli huge boulder stones and tough roots in 

 their fields, have been pleased to obtain the assistance of this powerful explosive 

 as a remedy for removing them. The recent heavy gales, which seem to have 

 been pretty universal throughout the country, have proved very destructive on 

 estates thickly timbered, uprooting an enormous quantity of fine trees, indeed, it 

 is roughly estimated that on one estate alone over a thousand trees have been 

 toppled over. Perhaps nothing makes an estate look more slovenly or out of 

 order than a lot of straggling roots lying about, and it was this that prompted 

 the owner of the Kilsall estate to call in the aid of dynamite. The olcl style of 

 removing and breaking up roots by stocking, wedging, and gunpowder is very 

 slow and much behind the times. Mr. Johnson's method of root removing and 

 bur.sting up is as follows : — He has invented and patented a useful tool, which 

 he calls an earth borer, this he inserts between the two strongest fangs, and 

 bores a hole at a convenient angle underneath the centre of the root. This hole 

 is charged with dynamite, a small primer cartridge, with detonator and fuse 

 affixed, is put on to the charge, and the hole is rammed up with damp clay or 

 eai'th, the fuse is then lighted, the force of the blast breaks asunder the ties, and 

 blows the root into sections or bodily out of the ground. A l|-inch Gilpin auger 

 is then used for boring the blown-out root, and these holes in their time are 

 chai"ged and fired as before, and the roots scattered into convenient pieces for 

 removal. The roots on the Kilsall estate comprised Ash, Elm, Oak, and Beech, 

 some of which were very large, measuring as much as 15 feet across, including 

 ties and earth, and 6 feet on the face of the timber. The whole of them were 

 demolished in three days, and Mr. Jones expressed himself highly pleased and 

 satisfied with the results. 



