8/2 T/ic jfonrnal of Forestry. 



pany rot, ^ill increase the durability of woods. Water and air are the 

 immediate causes of decay ; if either be absent, it is probable that wood 

 might be kept indefinitely. I have seen wood of mummy-cases from 

 Egypt, believed to have been used long before the ])irth of Moses, still 

 sound, because water had not been present to aid in the rot. Again, I 

 have seen wood called fossil, because of its age, buried hundreds of feet 

 beneath the soil, taken from borings ; even more, have myself taken wood 

 only partly mineralized from strata called the upper cretaceous, where it 

 must have been very many thousands of years before man came on earth. In 

 these cases there was water enough, but the air was lacking. So it is, 

 that anything and everything not corrosive in itself, which excludes either 

 air or moisture, hinders decay, and the farmer can often make a practical 

 use of the principle. 



I will now close with the hope that our old forests will be better cared 

 for, new ones planted, and our present supplies of wood and timber used 

 more economically. 



The Use of Dynamite for Forestry Purposes. 



A SEEIES of very interesting experiments with dynamite took place recently 

 at Hagley Park, near Stourbridge, the seat of Lord Lyttelton. The 

 experiments were conducted by Messrs. Johnson and Co., of Pudley 

 (agents for Nobel's Explosives Co.), in the presence of Lord Lyttelton and 

 other gentlemen. In consequence of the late high wind or gale, several 

 very fine trees had been blown down on this estate, including part of those 

 composing the beech avenue, which is formed of very old and magnificent 

 beech trees. Operations were commenced by blowing to pieces several ash 

 roots in the hedgerows on the farms belonging to the estate. A 1|- 

 inch auger hole having been bored in each of these, they were charged with 

 a few dynamite cartridges, and broken into convenient pieces. 



In the park, there were some dozen old roots which had been grubbed up, 

 and lying out of the ground for some time. These were smashed up by 

 placing a small cartridge in a crevice or natural fissure of the roots, thus 

 saving the trouble of boring an auger hole. On the lower side of the park 

 there were some half-dozeu very large and tough roots, with the fangs still 

 fast in the ground. A crowbar hole having been made under each side of 

 the root and opposite each other, inclining to the centre underneath the 

 main stump, a few 1-inch cartridges were inserted in each hole, the 

 fuses were cut the same length, and fired together, both shots exploding 

 simultaneously, and blowing the root with its fangs and smaller fibres 

 completely out of its bed, leaving an immense cavity behind. The party 

 then repaired to the Park Avenue, where several monster roots awaited 

 them ; one gnarled root, the growth of which was said to be 150 years, and 

 the extreme length and breadth of which covered an area of thirty-two 

 square yards, looked like bidding defiance to auger, explosives, or any- 

 thing else. Auger holes were out of the question, as it would have taken 

 at lea&t fifty to bore it properly, but fortunately a huge recess was dis- 

 covered between two of the main ties or fangs, about sixteen inches by eight 

 leading downwards towards the centre and strongest portion of the root. 



