164 



men have been in the possession of excellent quarries, but who, 

 for the want of getting started right in the quarry, and not know 

 ing exactly what they really needed, have blundered along at a 

 very great useless expense and inconvenience for a long time, or 

 many times have entirely abandoned the operation as a non-pay 

 ing business, when a day or two spent in examining the machin 

 ery, &c., of an extensive quarry would have enabled them to 

 start right, and progress with all desirable rapidity and efficiency. 



BREAKING STONE WITH FIRE. 



214. Many kinds of stone may be broken very readily and 

 very expeditiously with fire. Large bowlders, when a fire is 

 built on them, will, in a short time, separate into small pieces ; 

 and many times these pieces will have straight edges and smooth 

 and true faces, and may be used in a foundation for a building, or 

 in stone fence, with no little economy. When a large bowlder 

 is mostly below the surface of the ground, let the earth be thrown 

 away from it all around as low as the middle of it, and then pile 

 on a lot of old rails or pieces of stumps, or even good wood, and 

 it will soon crack into pieces so that they may be pried out with 

 the crowbar. Should it not be broken clear to the bottom, apply 

 the fire again after the broken pieces have been removed. Some 

 times, after the fire has been burning for a few minutes, the top 

 of the bowlder will be covered with large scales of stone, which 

 should be immediately removed, in order to allow the fire to come 

 in contact with the unbroken stone. Some kinds of stone that 

 are taken from the quarry may be broken very straight and true 

 into almost any desired shape. In many quarries stone are often 

 taken out ten or twenty feet in length, and from six to ten or 

 twelve inches in thickness, and sometimes from one foot to three 

 feet in width, with straight edges and true and smooth sides. 

 Now, in order to break them in pieces of a desirable size, let lit 

 tle fires be made with hard, dry wood, across the stone where it 

 is desirable to break it, and in a few minutes a seam will be 



