218 FELLING AND CONVEESION OF TIMBER. 



separately ; for this purpose iron crowbars are used, or the 

 stump may be blown up with gunpowder, as will be described 

 further on. 



It is evident that uprooting stumps is a most laborious 

 process and attempts have naturally been made to lighten the 

 work by using machines. These are all characterised by the 

 attempt to tear the stump from the strong descending roots 

 after the earth has been dug away, as previously explained. It 

 is only in cases of small stumps and superficial rooting that 

 digging can be dispensed with. Also where machines are used, 

 they either tear the whole stump from the roots, or remove it 

 piecemeal. 



Wherever machines such as the forest-devil are used for 

 uprooting stumps, all the side-roots should be cut off close 



to the stump, except one 

 large side-root which is 

 left longer than the 

 others, and serves as a 

 lever for the attachment 

 of the implement, as 

 shown in Fig. 145. 



Fi[. 145. Removal of stumps by the -^ , 



forest-devil. Preference should 



always be given to the 



simplest of the implements which have been already described ; 

 although they only partially replace manual labour, yet 

 they afford a simple application of considerable power. 

 Experience has shown that the forest-devil is the best of 

 the heavier implements. The Hawkeye machine is more 

 powerful, and would be used in preference were its cost not 

 so high. 



Objection has been made to the use of the forest-devil, that 

 it requires too many hands to work it, that it is difficult to fix 

 the rope, and that the long lever requires much space to work 

 in. These difficulties are not, however, so great as they would 

 jippcjir to 1)0, if a chain is used instead of a rope and the roots 

 are thoroughly exposed before working with the machine is 

 attempted. Once this has been done, only three or four men 

 are required to extract the stump ; in Silesia the forest-devil 

 been found to save 33 per cent, of manual labour. 



