FARM ECHOES. 45 



" Has any one present had any experience with Dyna- 

 mite, or Giant Powder, in clearing rocks from land ? If 

 so, will he give the result ? 



" Mr. Starr, of Litchfield, can give us some information 

 on that point." 



Mr. Starr " I will say that I know but very little 

 about this matter, except from results as shown on my 

 fields. A Mr. Parmelee, who makes it his business to 

 blow up rocks with dynamite, passed my place, and I 

 asked him to experiment in one of my fields, which I 

 expect to clear next summer. There were a large num- 

 ber of rocks in the field, such as could not very well be 

 blasted with powder, and I asked him what he could do. 

 I said : * I want you to experiment, and if you can satisfy 

 me I will let you work here for a day or two.' I pointed 

 out a rock ten and one-half feet long, five and one-half 

 feet wide, and nine or ten inches in depth such a rock, 

 as any one will see, would be difficult to blast with pow- 

 der, because there is not depth enough to drill into it. I 

 took out my watch, and in precisely seven and one-half 

 minutes from the time he began to work the rock was in 

 atoms. I selected another and larger rock, also a shallow 

 one, and he shattered it in about the same number of 

 minutes. This satisfied me that it would be for my 

 interest to let him work in that field that afternoon it 

 was just at noon and I was so much pleased with the 

 result of that day, that I kept him at work for two days 

 and a half on my farm. His charge was, I think, eighty 

 dollars, which covered everything material, and his 

 time. I have used many kegs of gunpowder, during my 

 six years' experience, in blasting rocks, and am free to 



