242 USE OF DYNAMITE AND TONITE IN FORESTRY. 



case it gives out nitrous fumes ; when fired with one of Nobel's 

 patent detonators, it explodes with enormous power, giving out 

 no noxious fumes or smoke ; water does not destroy its explosive 

 properties ; it is somewhat poisonous and gives off poisonous 

 fumes ; when in its proper condition it is a soft pasty substance ; 

 in cold weather it hardens and freezes, but resumes its pasty 

 condition when warmed ; and, to secure its full explosive effects, 

 must always be in the pasty state when being used in blasting 

 operations." 



The chief advantages of dynamite over gunpowder are : great 

 economy of labour in boring; saving of tools and fuse; no 

 tamping required ; perfect immunity from accidents in stemming 

 boreholes ; will blast under water and in water-bleeding rocks ; 

 is quite free from smoke; perfect safety in the handling, trans- 

 porting, and storing, as long as the company's printed instructions 

 are observed. Dynamite is made into cartridges of from one 

 ounce to several pounds' weight, and special instructions for its 

 use are sent with every package. 



Tonite or Cotton powder is claimed to be the explosive of the 

 future. Its safety is equal at least to that of dynamite under the 

 same circumstances, and it is in every way as economical and 

 wrought in the same way, except that it requires no thawing. 

 At present its cost is equal to that of dynamite ; but a writer in 

 the Mining Journal states that cotton powder will be in a 

 short time supplied at a price defying all competition. Though 

 the powders are of different natures, they are practically of the 

 same value as regards price and economy in working. There are 

 two points in favour of tonite over dynamite — it leaves no poisonous 

 fumes, and is at all times ready for use. The same instructions 

 apply to both, and therefore they are treated together. 



These explosives are preferable to the usual method of prepar- 

 ing and loosening soils for planting, on account of their cheapness, 

 the complete manner in which the soil is mined and loosened, 

 leaving no walls to hamper the roots as in pit planting, and 

 making no receptacles for water, as do the pits. The effect is the 

 opposite, producing a thorough drainage of the surrounding sur- 

 face, loosening the adjacent soil, and leaving way for the tap root 

 of the plant to descend to the substratum in search of food. At 

 first the effect is little seen ; but, on probing the soil, an ordinary 

 walking-stick can be easily forced down through the part loosened. 

 In hard soil, and even in fissured rock with very little soil, suffi- 



