5 1 6 The y oil ma/ of Forest ry. 



wards easily split up. The party then proceeded to a large heap of boulder 

 stones in the middle of the field, -where a novel experiment was tried. 

 Placing three cartridges upon the top of a similar numljer of stones, 

 jMr. Dincen caused three boulders to be placed above them, \\ith the 

 evident intention of breaking the lower and upper stones. These were 

 purposely undercharged to show the power of the powder. After the 

 explosion it was discovered that although the upper stones had been 

 broken into fragments, very little damage had been done to those on which 

 the cartridges rested. This, no doubt, proved that the powder could be 

 u^sed successfully without ?,ny boring, but it showed likewise that with 

 very little labour a boulder could be shattered by the simple process of 

 laying a cartridge upon its face and covering it with a shovellul of clay. 

 The seventh experiment was ^vith three stones Aveighing in the aggregate 

 about two tons. Holes had been bored four inches deep, not below, but in 

 the face of these ponderous masses, and each of them was charged with a 

 one-ounce cartridge, the cost of which is three-halfpence. Two of them were 

 rent in twain, fragments of dchris flying high into the air, while the other 

 was cracked in several places. In all, eleven experiments wci'e tried with 

 these boulders, some having been bored from the top, others from the side, 

 and the rest broken simply by the explosive power of the powder, which 

 was placed either below or on the top of the solid pieces of stone. The 

 gentlemen present expressed themselves highly satisfied with Wx. Dineeu's 

 exj^eriments. 



The company then adjourned to a plantation which runs along the 

 margin of the new carriage drive belonging to the Marquis of Lothian, 

 where a huge tree-stump lay deeply and firmly embedded in the ground. 

 The surface of this stump exhibited no signs of decay, but, on the contrary, 

 suggested the idea of being impregnable to the shock of a large amount of 

 blasting powder. A large hole had been made in the soft earth immediately 

 in the front of and below part of the root. Into this aperture Mr. Dineen 

 put six cartridges containing about twenty ounces of powder. The soft 

 earth was then placed o^er the hole and firmly pressed against the cai'tridges, 

 the fuse, of course, appearing a few inches above the surface. Those 

 present, knowing the great power of the charge which had been placed 

 below the last remnant of this monarch of the wood, sought shelter behind 

 the surrounding trees, and after a lapse of about three minutes a tremendous 

 explosion followed, accompanied by a shower of leaves, earth, and splinters 

 of wood. One of these splinters was thrown a distance of seventy yards, 

 and weighed about two stones. Another was found at a distance of no less 

 than one hundred and twenty yards, and weighed upwards of a stone and a 

 half. The shock ciused the earth to tremble within a radius of about fifty 

 yards, and the sound was heard at a distance of four miles. 



Further experiments were next made at Hare stanes with loose stumps of 

 trees. The first experiment of this series took place at Harestanes road- 

 head. Three holes had been drilled into the more solid parts of the wood 

 in order to obtain the greatest possible amount of resistance. A single 

 cartridge having been placed in each of these, and the holes having 



