PULLING OUT — BURNING. 665 



ing a strong lever, ten feet long, upright by the stump, and 

 wrapping the stump with a chain. Another chain passes from 

 the top of the lever to the axle of a wagon or cart, which is 

 loaded with stone enough to keep it from lifting. The team 

 then draws, and is assisted, if necessary, by digging, prying, 

 and cutting off roots. It is astonishing what stumps can be 

 taken out in this way. A man soon learns to tell by striking a 

 stump whether it is worth while to attempt it or not. A 

 stump which would require more than ten minutes to extract, 

 had better be left until the next occasion. The time to work 

 at them is either early in the Spring or late in the Fall, when 

 the ground is wet. It needs two or three persons to work to 

 advantage. We often see a wandering kind of an article in 

 the papers saying that saltpetre or kerosene can be used to 

 advantage in burning them out. I have tried them, in both 

 green stumps and dry, without the least perceptible benelit. 



BURNING THEM OUT. 



When stumps get old and rotten, there often comes a dry 

 time in which they can be burned to advantage. Such stumps 

 as can be pried out can be used in burning others. I burned a 

 hundred stumps from an acre of land by the use of sheet-iron 

 stoves. I made four or five of them, of different sizes, out of 

 some old stovepipe, joining two lengths for the hight, and 

 giving them a conical form to fit the stump. A flattened joint 

 formed the top, from the center of which arose a joint of six- 

 inch pipe, to form a draught. The old rubbish which abounds 

 in a timbered country, with loose and broken stumps, formed 

 the fuel. I would start a fire by the side of a stump, place 

 over it a suitable sized stove, put the cover on top, with a sod 

 to hold it in case the wind was blowing, leave sufficient space 

 beneath to form a draught, and go off about other business. 

 Some stumps would be consumed by a single fire, others would 

 require more fire, just like a green chunk in any other stove. I 

 only visited the fires once a day to set them going, and, while 

 the process was slow, it was effectual and cheap. 



Basswood stumps are the most refractory, and unless very 



